Lifting and carrying

At top, a man is being carried in a sedan chair, with many porters carrying furniture from a train on the right to his cabin in the wilderness on the left. At bottom, on the left, is a buck holding up a young hunter, exclaiming “To think of anybody mistaking a thing like this for me!” At bottom, on the right, is “The Guide’s Farewell” where a hunter stands outside the door as his guide takes leave of his family. The guide’s wife is weeping into a handkerchief, an infant sitting on the floor is crying, and his son hands him a rifle. The expectation is that he will be shot by accident by the hunter. At center, a man gestures toward his trophy wall and boasts about having “shot every one of them myself.” On the wall are portraits of many men mistaken for one animal or another, and one deer, which was shot “By Accident.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Puck increasingly turned its occasional genre cartoons — jokes revolving around one subject in center-spread cartoons — from light humor to social, if not political, attacks. S. D. Ehrhart here takes aim at hunters whose interests were desultory, not for the thrill of the hunt nor food. The idle rich are the cartoonist’s target, ridiculed as a wastrel who outfits his luxurious mountain cabin. The foppish “hunter” and his similarly represented guest are ridiculed for the only possible “trophies” such people could manage to acquire.

The Republican elephant collapses under the weight of Republican and/or Roosevelt policies, including a large crown labeled “Imperialism,” a “Big Stick,” a basket labeled “Odellism,” a mail pouch labeled “Postal Scandals,” a box of “Gloves & Gaunts,” a large cannon labeled “Militarism,” a question mark labeled “Philippines,” a disk labeled “Extravagance,” a thick wad of papers labeled “High Protection” bound together by “Dingley Schedules,” and finally a bloated man labeled “Trusts.”

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Comments and Context

Keppler’s cartoon, published on the eve of the 1904 presidential election, is a lesson in iconography and couching political points in graphic arguments of logic. The piles of bad policies and negative issues, however, were not onerous to the elephant — the Republican Party of 1904. Indeed, Roosevelt’s foreign policy, the domestic economy, and even his position on trusts (scarcely as beneficent as Keppler’s caricatured smile would indicate) were wildly welcomed by most Republicans. Indeed, if Uncle Sam, rather than the Republican Party, had been depicted in this cartoon, he might not have felt such a load either.

Alton B. Parker sits in a chair strapped to the back of David B. Hill, who is carrying him up a narrow, treacherous, rocky trail on the edge of a mountain “to [the] St. Louis Convention.” Hill’s walking stick, labeled “Trickery” and “Peanut Politics,” has been broken and mended. Caption: Parker — I think I’ll get out and walk.

comments and context

Comments and Context

With the Democratic National Convention only weeks away, and the presidential nomination its main order of business, the dark horse boosted by Puck and other conservative Democrats was looking like a sure bet. Appeals Court Judge Alton B. Parker was the darkest of dark horses: having never served in an elected executive office; without a constituency or party base; and an advocate of few known positions. But, he was not William Jennings Bryan, whose waning power was still dreaded by mainline Democrats.

John Bull and Uncle Sam appear, both bent under the weight of the governing bodies that they are carrying on their backs with papers labeled “Hereditary Right to Obstruct Legislation” and “Senatorial Rules for Obstructing Legislation.” A sign behind John Bull states, “Commons come, Commons go, but the Lords go on forever,” and a sign behind Uncle Sam states, “Notice – the 53rd Congress goes, but the Senate still remains.” Caption: Uncle Sam–I’m sorry for you, John; that’s a terrible load you’ve got to carry! John Bull–Shake ‘ands, old chap; you seem to be ‘avin’ a pretty ‘ard time, yourself!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-02-27

A “countryman” labeled “Rep. Party” carries a whip and drives a donkey labeled “Taxpayer” who is carrying a large sack labeled “War Tariff” that contains a counter weight labeled “Iniquitous Pensions” on its back. Caption: A countryman having some grain to carry to the mill, was bothered as to how to balance the load upon his donkey’s back. Finally he hit upon the expedient of placing a large stone in the other end of the sack. Thus did he balance matters to his great satisfaction; – but to the doubling of the load on the donkey.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1893-12-13

A diminutive man labeled “Latin Races” carries a hefty clergyman on his shoulders.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899/02/01

Whitelaw Reid places a bundled-up package labeled “Blaine” and “Rotten Record” on top of a large pile in a basket being carried by a woman labeled “Republican Party” who is stooped under the burden and leaning on a staff labeled “War Record.” Others already in the basket are “Kellogg” labeled “Returning Board & Star Ro,” “Keifer” labeled “Speakership Corruption,” “Dorsey” labeled “Star Route Swindle,” “Brady” labeled “Star Route Swindle,” “Robeson” labeled “Navy Ring,” “Grant’s IId Term Washington Ring,” and “Belknap” who resigned as Grant’s Secretary of War in 1876. A man labeled “Phelps Whitewasher” is holding the ladder for Reid.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-05-14

Carl Schurz and newspaper editor George W. Curtis carry fellow editor Whitelaw Reid up the gangplank of a “French Steamer.” Puck, holding his lithographic pencil, stands at the bottom of the gangplank. Includes references to James G. Blaine and Louis Pasteur. Caption: Let him be taken to Paris and treated for Blainiac rabies without delay.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-12-16

A weary President Wilson carries Vice President Marshall on his back as he climbs up a rocky hillside labeled “Administration Problems” from the sea. Marshall has a gavel in one hand and a large megaphone labeled “Four Years’ Silence” in the other; he is wearing a turban. Caption: Vice-President Marshall as The Old Man of the Sea; President Wilson as Inbad [i.e., Sinbad], the Sailor.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1913-05-07

Theodore Roosevelt struggles to carry a huge hen labeled “Taft” to a nest of eggs labeled “State Delegations.” Sitting on a fence in the background is a chicken with the head of Joseph Gurney Cannon. Another chicken looking like Charles W. Fairbanks pokes his head through the fence. Caption: Getting the hen on the job.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Once again — as indeed would be his lot during his entire career — William H. Taft had a cartoonist make fun at his expanse. Beyond the visual humor was the actual situation that President Roosevelt had to work hard to advance the case for his chosen successor Taft to secure the Republican nomination. There was sparse enthusiasm through the party, and Taft was not a gifted retail campaigner. So a portrayal of Roosevelt breaking a sweat just to get Taft to nurture possible delegates was prescient commentary.

A “Workingman” is bent under the weight of an enormous dinner pail labeled “Tariff for Graft Only.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Puck and its owner and chief cartoonist Udo J. Keppler, aimed at two birds, at least, with one cartoon in this cover drawing.