Holes

President Roosevelt smiles as Joseph Benson Foraker grabs onto his coat, which rips off and he falls into a deep hole. The U.S. Capitol building and Washington monument are in the background.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The idea of this cartoon is to represent the end of the controversy between President Roosevelt and Senator Joseph Benson Foraker over the matter of a regiment of black troops being cashiered (not honorably discharged) after a melee near their barracks in Brownsville, Texas, left one man dead and another wounded. The accusations, defenses, and insults were the stuff of national interest for months.

Print shows William Jennings Bryan as the Democratic Donkey with the bit end of a bridle in his mouth, trying to climb out of a hole constructed of blocks labeled “Aguinaldoism, Anti-Trust, Anti-Imperialism, Free Riots, Anti-Expansion, Free Silver, Populism, Calamity Cry, [and] Chicago Platform,” with the U.S. Capitol nearby.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-12-27

Chester A. Arthur is a Greek Danaid pouring water labeled “Popularity” into a barrel labeled “Arthur Boom” filled with holes labeled “Stalwart Record,” so that the water pours out as fast as he pours it in. Behind him is a water pump labeled “Patronage.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-04-09