Gladiators

The newly elected Democratic governor of Massachusetts, William L. Douglas, appears as a gladiator holding a sword labeled “Popular Approval” and a shield showing the Seal of the State of Massachusetts. In the arena, he faces a dragon with the head of a bull and fashioned out of industrial parts labeled “Leather Trust, Flour Trust, Beet Trust, Steel Trust, Cotton Trust, Tobacco Trust, Oil Trust, Woolen Goods, Iron, Copper, Steel, [and] Glass.” The dragon’s back and tail are labeled “Monopoly” and “High Protective Tariff.” On the ground between its front legs is a woman labeled “Fair Trade.” Standing in the audience are Republicans O. H. Platt, Henry C. Lodge, Nelson W. Aldrich, Nathan B. Scott, John C. Spooner, and Redfield Proctor.

comments and context

Comments and Context

An interesting figure in American politics was William Lewis Douglas. He was a prominent shoe manufacturer in Massachusetts, a state known for that product. He was friendly to unions (but a foe of socialism); a staunch opponent of monopolies (as depicted in Pughe’s cartoon, where he challenges the Trust Monster); and an advocate of free trade with Canada (if for no other reason that his business bought hides and coal from the neighbors to the north). He pioneered the concept of manufacturer-owned retails outlets, growing W. L. Douglas Shoe Stores to 60 across America at their busiest.

A bear and a bull appear as gladiators in an arena. The bear has one foot on the bull and is about to plunge a sword labeled “Raids” into the bull. Sheep at the edge of the wall appear to be signaling death to the bull.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Icons and symbols are the mother’s milk of political cartooning. Parties, movements, and countries have had animals and figures representing them, and many origin stories are interesting; some are lost in obscurity.

Illustration showing two gladiators, one labeled “Gold Standard” and the other labeled “Silver Standard,” in a coliseum, the “Gold Standard” gladiator stands victorious over the “Silver Standard” gladiator, his sword, labeled “16 to 1” lies broken at his side.

comments and context

Comments and Context

“Survival of the fittest” is a term coined by Herbert Spencer in 1864 as his summary of Darwinian theory applied to his own economic ideas. It thereafter was adopted by Darwin himself. Since the Panic of 1873, the United States government, operating on a bimetallic basis — gold and silver convertible to specie and coin on fixed values — had a relatively unstable economy. Economic growth was influenced by an inelastic currency as well as the results of gold rushes and silver mining. The Populist revolt, 1892-1896, exacerbated by a severe depression, led to William Jennings Bryan to advocate for inflation and a value-ratio of 16 to 1, silver ounces to gold ounces. Such near-anarchy in the economy ended in 1900 with the passage of the Gold Standard Law, forever taking the United States from any reliance on silver, hence the broken “16-to-1” sword in the cartoon. In 1933 the country likewise abandoned the Gold Standard.

In the interior of a coliseum, Puck labeled “1900” is standing on the legs of a fallen gladiator labeled “1899.” Puck is holding a trident at the aged gladiator’s neck while 12 people standing in the gallery, representing the months of the year, gesture with the thumbs-down signal.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1900-01-03

Print shows diminutive gladiators labeled “Jones,” “J.D. Sayers” with large sword labeled “State Anti-Trust Laws,” “Bryan” with large sword labeled “Demagogism,” “Hearst,” “Pingree,” “Hogg of Texas” with sword labeled “State Law,” Theodore Roosevelt with sword labeled “Roosevelt,” and “Alger,” and also Joseph Pulitzer. A crowd in the background carries banners that state “Down with Trusts” and “Down with Dept. Stores.” They are struggling against a large gladiator wearing armor labeled “Trusts, Power to Undersell Competitors, Vested Rights, Right to Buy and Sell, Natural Right of Association, Business Progress, Steady Work, [and] Payment of Good Wages.” The gladiator is carrying a shield labeled “Constitution of the U.S.” and a sword labeled “Low Prices.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-07-26

A gladiator labeled “Sound Money,” holding a sword labeled “Currency Reform,” stands over a fallen gladiator labeled “Free Silver” who appeals to the crowd for mercy, but instead receives the thumbs-down gesture.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-12-07

Gladiator William Maxwell Evarts stands over fallen and wounded gladiator Levi P. Morton. Coins spill from a gash in his left side, earning Evarts a wreath of “Popular Approval.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-01-28

The Republican elephant labeled “G.O.P.” bows to Theodore Roosevelt as the Roman emperor, Caesar, in a colosseum.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-05-22

A skeleton labeled “Death,” as a gladiator, stands over “The Sick.” Before giving the death stroke, the skeleton looks to the spectators seated in a section identified as “Anti-Vivisectionists,” who, holding their pets close, give the “thumbs down” signal. The emblem on their banner shows a hand about to snuff the flame on a lamp labeled “Progress.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-06-07