Legislators

A knight labeled “The New Congressman” stands on rocks high in the mountains at the base of a cliff that is protected by a sleeping dragon labeled “Special Privilege.” At the top of the cliff is the U.S. Capitol building.

Comments and Context

Welcome to Washington: Udo J. Keppler depicts the challenges that face newly elected senators and representatives; not merely the long climb of steps to the Capitol.

An earlier generation of reformers and political cartoonists had decried political “bosses”; then trust magnates; President Roosevelt described the unholy alliance of politicians and crooked moguls as “malefactors of great wealth.”

A large group of members of the Fifty-fourth Congress are pictured. Many are dressed as natives, with some wearing grass skirts. Most are armed with spears or clubs, while some have shields. Four are reading the “Reminiscences of John Sherman,” one turns the crank on a spit where John Bull is being roasted, and Thomas B. Reed is standing on a platform on the left. A statue labeled “Jingoism” appears at center. Grover Cleveland appears in effigy with several spears or arrows stuck in him. Joseph G. Cannon sits on the floor on the right.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-05-27

Treasury Secretary Lyman J. Gage tosses notes that state “Free Silver is Ruin,” “Sound Money,” “The National Honor is above Politics,” “A fifty-cent dollar would mean greater hardship to the laboring man than to the capitalist,” “Financial Reform Needed,” and “Sound Money is necessary to our Prosperity” among diminutive legislators who all have pointed ears like swine. Gage holds a paper that states, “Had there been a uniform banking system, specie payments would have been maintained, and hundreds of millions lost through depreciation of government notes would have been saved to the people,” and in his pocket are papers labeled “Sound Money Tracts.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-03-23

Matthew Quay, senator from Pennsylvania and political boss of dubious character, stands at a podium labeled “Keystone Auction Rooms, Matt. Quay, Auctioneer.” Quay is auctioning off Pennsylvania’s 32 electoral votes, labeled “32 Delegates for Quay,” to the highest bidder. The four men at the foot of the podium are William McKinley, Thomas B. Reed, Henry M. Teller, and a man labeled “Morton.” Caption: Auctioneer Quay–Now then, gentlemen, what am I offered for this lot? – the highest bidder gets ’em!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-03-18

Two masked legislators labeled “Anti-Administration Senator” and “Jingo Senator,” holding long knives labeled “Hatred of Cleveland” and “Hatred of England,” stand outside the “U.S. Senate,” waiting to ambush an “Arbitration Treaty” standing at the entrance to the Senate.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-02-03

A businessman sleeps in a bed with the spirit of a two-headed congressman labeled “House” and “Senate” howling at his bedside, trying to ruin his sleep with “War Talk!, Extravagant Talk!, Appropriations!, [and] Jingoism!” Papers on a nightstand state “Business Disturbance, Upsetting of Values, Etc.” and “Doings of Congress – Jingoism – Tariff Tinkering – Etc.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-01-20

President Roosevelt, as a hurdy-gurdy player, grinds an organ labeled “Party Harmony” among a group of bears labeled “Elkins, Parsons, Dick, Platt, Penrose, Woodruff, Foraker, Barnes, [and] Odell,” each holding a large club across their shoulders.

Comments and Context

“The Boss Bear Trainer” is a rare cartoon from the career of President Roosevelt wherein bears are cartooned characters, but related to teddy bears, either as hunting trophies or as children’s plush toys.

Udo J. Keppler here depicted Roosevelt as an Italian organ grinder making trained bears dance. A frequent sight on urban street corners of the day were beggars who attracted people with organ-grinder music to which bears danced. For safety’s sake the bears usually were muzzled and restrained.

Joseph Gurney Cannon, as the cruel, autocratic Sultan of the Turks, Abdülhamid II, sits on a throne, smoking a hookah labeled “Obstruction,” as two men, in the background, dressed as Turks labeled “Payne” and “Dalzell,” suffer from a chill or other deprivation.

Comments and Context

Udo J. Keppler, a brilliant caricaturist, seldom practiced the iconic method of representation — a large head on a small body. But in the exception, and despite the thematic statement that Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon’s odious character could be suggested by hoary facial features as well as by actions or labels.

In an event, Cannon’s was a face that Keppler loved to draw, like that of ebullient President Roosevelt and icy Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks. Also, through the years Keppler’s portrayal of the Speaker revealed more seedy desuetude and arrogance. His two factotums in the drawing are subservient powers in Cannon’s court: Sereno Payne, a tax-writing master; and John Dalzell, a House veteran who managed to be a conduit to Roosevelt’s White House.

Thomas B. Reed, Speaker of the House, sits at the Speaker’s desk and, oversized, is the only member of Congress present. Caption: Speaker Reed–What is the pleasure of the House?

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-06-30

Uncle Sam hands top hats to Eugene Hale and Nelson W. Aldrich outside the doors of the “U.S. Senate.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-05-25

A comet labeled “Allds Investigation” strikes a planet labeled “Albany Legislature,” causing it to explode among planets labeled “Aldrich, Penrose, Payne, Vreeland, Dalzell, Cannon, Hitchcock, Woodruff, Ballinger, Root, Platt, Depew, Parsons, Sherman, Bliss, Black, Cortelyou, Odell, Lodge, Hale, [and] Elkins.” A lone planet showing the face of Theodore Roosevelt hovers on the far right. Caption: A comet that has cut loose in the Republican constellation.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-03-09

Print shows Chauncey M. Depew wearing a tuxedo and a bib labeled “Depew,” standing at a small table on which is a tea cup and a cigar, a lamp and a cordial glass in the “U.S. Senate.” A few men gathered in the background are laughing. Caption: Puck suggests a way to get the best results.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-02-15

A modern version of the sale of Manhattan Island is being acted by unidentified legislators masquerading as Natives and New York businessmen. Among some familiar faces are James S. Schoolcraft representing the Natives, and lurking in the background of businessmen is John D. Rockefeller. Caption: Respectfully submitted to the Float Committee of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-08-25

Outside a building labeled “Washington Inn” with an image of the U.S. Capitol on the sign, a large group of Republican legislators, politicians, and others are laughing at an old man wearing tattered clothing labeled “Democracy.” He looks dazed, as though he has just wandered in from the past; his walking stick is dated “1861.” Two dogs labeled “N.Y. Tribune” and “N.Y. Times” sniff at his heels. Among those present are George M. Robeson, Ulysses S. Grant, John Logan, James Gillespie Blaine, Chester Alan Arthur (dressed as a woman, serving food and drinks), Charles J. Folger, George Frisbie Hoar, Joseph Warren Keifer, Horace F. Page, William Mahone (doing a hand-stand), J. D. Cameron, Roscoe Conkling, John Sherman, George F. Edmunds, John P. Jones, and Thomas Collier Platt.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-03-14

Puck stands in the Senate chamber, among many senators sick with “Presidential Fever.” Puck is offering a spoonful of “Anti-Presidential Quinine” to John Sherman. Among the senators present are Wade Hampton, George Frisbie Hoar, J. D. Cameron, William Mahone, Warner Miller, Daniel W. Voorhees, John Alexander Logan, George F. Edmunds, John Sherman, George Graham Vest, Thomas F. Bayard, John P. Jones, and David Davis. Peering over the chamber walls are George M. Robeson, Jay Gould, and Roscoe Conkling.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-02-21

A “Republican” Congressman ice skates with a “Monopolist” on the “Capitol Skating Pond.” Together they hold a stick labeled “Money Interests.” Skating nearby is a man labeled “Democracy.” Between these men is another man who has fallen through the ice at a spot labeled “Needless Taxation.” His hat labeled “Tax Payer” rests on the ice. Caption: Republican Congressman – “He is howling for help.” Monopolist – “Throw him a promise!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-01-31

A man labeled “Hayseed Legislator” waits next to obstacles labeled “Corruption, Spite against N. Y. City, Backwoods Bullheadedness, [and] Petty Jealousy” that he has placed on railroad tracks ahead of an oncoming train labeled “N. Y. City Reforms.” He is hoping to cause the train to derail.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-05-13

Schuyler Colfax stands at a lectern labeled “Speaker Colfax – Pious Hypocrite and Credit Mobilier Bribe-Taker.” James G. Blaine stands at a lectern labeled “Speaker Blaine – ‘Magnetic’ Blusterer and Railroad Stock-Jobber.” Joseph W. Keifer stands at a lectern labeled “Speaker Keifer – The Corrupt Tool of Robeson et al.” Blaine gestures toward three portraits hanging on the wall in the background, of former Democratic Speakers of the House, labeled “Kerr, Randall, [and] Carlisle.” Caption: The three last speakers of the “Untrustworthy and Disreputable Democratic Party,” and the three last speakers of the “Grand Old Republican Party of Moral Ideas.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-07-16

Several legislators are slicing up a large watermelon labeled “River and Harbor Bill” in an effort to carry off a share for themselves, while Chester Alan Arthur sleeps in the shade of a tree in the background. George G. Vest carries off a slice labeled “Pistol-Pocket Harbor,” James D. Cameron has carved out a small chunk labeled “Washy Washy Creek,” Elbridge G. Lapham is eating a slice labeled “Gowanus Back-Water Gutter,” and a slice labeled “Blue-Grass Brook” is at the feet of James B. Beck. Beck and Warner Miller work at cutting slices labeled “Wood-Pulp Puddle” and “Skatchekoosis Stream-let,” while Lucius Q. C. Lamar and Joseph E. Brown approach from the background, with large knives.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-07-26

Print shows newspaper editors Charles A. Dana, James G. Bennett, Carl Schurz, Henry Watterson, George W. Curtis, and Whitelaw Reid, as well as Puck, with a fleet of paper gunboats labeled “N.Y. Times, N.Y. Sun, N.Y. Herald, Ev. Post, Puck, Brooklyn Eagle, Courier-Journal, Harpers, Phila Times, Mail, [and] N.Y. Tribune.” The fleet is firing cannons, “ink” bottles, and pens, bombarding a fortress flying a flag labeled “Plunder,” where the walls are comprised of paper bundles labeled “Bills, Jobs, Bargains, Corrupt Bills, [and] Logrolling.” The fortress is defended by “Robeson Bey” standing at center with a bandage labeled “Record” around his head, “Keifer” and “Jones,” with John A. Logan labeled “306,” James D. Cameron, David Davis, John Sherman, and others. Cannonballs burst among them labeled “Criticism, Censure, [and] Condemnation.” The fortress cannons are labeled “River & Harbor Bill $20,000,000, Pension Arrears $103,962,300, Monitor Job, Public Buildings, Mileage Steal, [and] Mississippi Levee.” Within the fortress are the U.S. Capitol and the U.S. Treasury labeled “Ammunition House.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-08-02