Payne, Sereno Elisha, 1843-1914

A street on a winter’s day is crowded with horse-drawn sleighs, some of which are attempting to get ahead of the others. On the left, a sleigh labeled “J. Gould” carrying Gould, Whitelaw Reid, and Roscoe Conkling has caused another sleigh labeled “Villard” and “Northern Pacific R. R.” to overturn, spilling Henry Villard, and nearly hitting George H. “Pendleton” holding on to the arm of a young girl labeled “Civil Service Reform.” Behind them is a troika labeled “Standard Oil Co.” that is driven by Sereno “Payne.” Racing ahead at the center is a sleigh labeled “The P– be d–” and “Vanderbilt” driven by William H. Vanderbilt. On the right is a large “Labor Sleigh” loaded with blue-collar workers and drawn by a single, scrawny horse struggling to keep pace. To the far right are two sleighs. One labeled “Roach Contract Cutter” is driven by John Roach and the other labeled “Field” is driven by Cyrus Field. Bringing up the rear is a sleigh labeled “Huntington” driven by Collis P. Huntington and flying a banner that states, “It costs money to fix things.” A man with a bag labeled “Laborer Iron” has fallen in the street and is about to be run over by Roach and the Labor Sleigh.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-02-06

In a winter scene, a soldier labeled “Democracy” stands in front of a road sign that points in four directions “Free Trade, To Tariff Reform, To Protection, [and] No Policy.” Between his feet is a small dog that looks like John Kelly. “Speaker Carlisle” as a drum major for “Reform” is standing in the left foreground. Behind and to the left are Benjamin Butler “Butlerism,” Abram S. “Hewitt” with “Free Trade” banner, and Samuel S. “Cox” pointing toward “Free Trade.” Samuel J. “Randall” is standing in the right foreground, wearing a helmet labeled “Protection.” Behind and to the right are Sereno “Payne” with banner labeled “Straddle Every Issue!”, Thomas “Bayard” holding papers that state “Dodge the Question,” and Samuel J. Tilden labeled “Ancient Issues.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-01-30

Samuel J. Tilden, pictured as Moses with two rays of light emitting from his forehead, stands with his back to a mountainside where some rocks look like barrels labeled with “$”, and a sign that states “This Stream Stopped Running in November 1876.” He is confronted by a group of parched (for funds) political aspirants labeled “Hewitt, Watterson, Dana, [Hendricks], Cox, Bayard, Randall, N. Y. Democracy, [Kelly], Payne, Lamar, [and] Thurman,” and one man holding a jug labeled “For Campaign Funds.” They implore him to strike the rocks and make the money flow.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-04-02

A camel has collasped under the weight of its burden labeled “Amendments,” with Samuel J. Randall riding on top. Concerned travelers include John Kelly, Samuel J. Tilden, Henry Watterson, Sereno Payne, Morrison, Abram S. Hewitt, Grover Cleveland, Carlisle, Charles A. Dana, Thomas Bayard, Benjamin F. Butler, and Samuel S. Cox. Bones labeled “1880 Local Issue, 1876 Fraud, [and] 1872” lie in the sand nearby. A “November Simoom” is approaching in the right background. On the left, an elephant labeled “Republicans” carrying among others James G. Blaine, John A. Logan, and Roscoe Conkling, races toward an oasis. Caption: “If its back is broken, we are lost!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-03-19

A mermaid labeled “Presidency” swims in water with a clear view of the fish that are attracted to her. Depicted are David Davis, Grover Cleveland, Joseph E. McDonald, Benjamin F. Butler, Robert Todd Lincoln, John Sherman, Sereno Payne, Chester A. Arthur, William T. Sherman, John Kelly, Samuel J. Tilden, Allen G. Thurman, Abram S. Hewitt, Roswell P. Flower, John Logan, Thomas Bayard, James G. Blaine, Ulysses S. Grant, Roscoe Conkling, Samuel J. Randall, and Winfield Scott Hancock.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-03-12

A man labeled “Consumer” walks with crutches labeled “Free Oil” and “Free Hides,” and is heavily wrapped with bandages labeled “Free Valerianic, Free Cerium, Free Acorns, Gambier, Fossils, Free Orange Peel, Free Spunk, Coir, Rennets, Free Aniline Salts, Ipecac, Divi-Divi, Free Manganese, Free Turtles, Rags, Plumbago, Insects, Tonquin, Teeth, Free Brazilian Pebble, Free Pulu Litmus, [and] Free Rope ends.” He has just been discharged from the “United States Congressional Clinic” where “Matron Taft” stands at the door and doctors “Sherman, Payne, Aldrich, [and] Cannon” watch from a window as they clean their medical instruments.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-08-25

Several Republicans with presidential aspirations and/or delegates to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, and a young boy holding a pillow labeled “Stand-Pat Press,” stand around “Stand-Pat” King Canute on the seashore with cliffs at their back, as he commands the rising tide of “Tariff Revision.”

Comments and Context

Samuel Ehrhart returned to Puck’s political-cartoon pages with a standard use of the King Canute legend, frequently employed by cartoonists; it was a misuse, actually, because the real story of Canute is not that the king tried to command the waves to recede, but to illustrate to his court that his powers were not unlimited.

In any event Ehrhart had a chance to reconnect Puck with partisanship, as it had been addressing generic issues with force but without regard to party positions or specific personalities to this point in the 1908 campaign. In this cartoon, the king is a generic figure but his retinue is, exclusively, high-tariff Republican proponents from the Senate and House.

Uncle Sam tries to get the attention of Joseph Gurney Cannon who is talking with Sereno E. Payne in the House chamber, as a large hand labeled “The Big Interests” wearing “Stand Pat” cufflinks, appears from above with its thumb extended as though to squash Cannon. Caption: He can’t get the speaker’s eye.

Comments and Context

Udo J. Keppler’s cartoon is a brutal indictment of Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon. The chamber is mostly empty but for a few members lounging or in lassitude; and the Speaker merely chatting at the chair, not conducting the people’s business.

Uncle Sam is referred to as “Leader of the Minority,” a cynical reference to the pecking order in Cannon’s House — virtually a private domain that he operated as wished. Reforms curtailing his powers and prerogatives would come in 1910, but at the time of this cartoon, mid-1908, Cannon was king of his castle and, in Keppler’s view, the country could be ignored.

The Republican elephant labeled “G.O.P.” is about to drink from a cup labeled “Reciprocity.” With him are several men labeled “Root, Sherman, Cannon, La Follette, Crane, Lodge, Payne, Dick, Gallinger, Penrose” and one unidentified man. Some are distraught, while others are merely watching.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-08-09

A man labeled “Protected Monopoly” lies on a bench in an Egyptian temple next to a large bloody sword labeled “Closed Mills” with which three man, labeled “Labor,” have been slain. Each lies next to papers labeled “No Orders the Prices Come Down, Cancelled Orders, [and] Consumer Balks.” At one end of the temple are the faces of “Sherman, Aldrich, [and] Payne.” In the distance are factories.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-02-15

Sereno E. Payne, in the role of British Major John Pitcairn, commander of an occupying troop of British soldiers in Massachusetts in 1775, stands before a group of Patriots under the banner “Mass. Tariff Revisionists.” Caption: Major Sereno Payne Pitcairn (of the Stand Pat Lobsterbacks) — Disperse, ye villains! Ye rebels, disperse! Damn you, why don’t you disperse?

Comments and Context

The cartoon of Udo J. Keppler on Puck‘s cover addresses an intra-party dispute among Republicans.

The tariff had become an issue that united politicians around the end of the Civil War; and it caused divisions too. Tariffs on imports were imposed to “protect infant industries” from cheaper foreign goods during America’s industrial revolution, beginning in earnest in the 1870s. They were also advocated as revenue-generators. Soon, American manufacturers and farmers became strong enough to stand on their own; and the federal government amassed a treasury surplus, which President Grover Cleveland considered immoral. He committed the Democratic Party to a low-tariff policy.

A blindfolded and policy-laden Republican elephant is being led by two blindfolded men towards the edge of a cliff labeled “Beef Trust,” as Theodore Roosevelt dressed as a Rough Rider runs after them.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-04-28

President Roosevelt tells Senator Aldrich that he has forwarded correspondence to Representative Sereno Elisha Payne about the recently enacted law ‘relating to the fortification of pure sweet wines.’ Roosevelt agrees with the position taken by Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson, and hopes a new law can be passed that is aligned with his views.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-15

President Roosevelt expresses that he cannot “press such a view” that Miller suggests. Roosevelt cites men like Charles Evans Hughes, and Representative Sereno Payne, who believe the New York campaign for Governor should be a fought solely on state issues rather than putting any emphasis on the national government and its administration. Roosevelt notes that he and his cabinet have been at the service of the people of New York throughout the campaign, but it has been suggested to him that he should not alter the character of the campaign. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-17

After speaking with Speaker of the House Cannon, President Roosevelt has been thinking about the immigration bill and wishes that Cannon could support it and encourage others to support it. Roosevelt believes the opposition to the bill comes from people who look to obtain masses of cheap labor, as well as steamship companies. Roosevelt believes that in spite of agitation among German and Scandinavian populations against the bill it would not affect immigration from either region. Roosevelt admits that the bill is not drawn up as he himself would have done it and enumerates several changes he wishes were in place. Overall, Roosevelt wishes for an immigration bill to stem the flow of cheap labor, allowing wages to rise, and to focus on admitting people of good character who will improve the communities that they join. In a handwritten note, Roosevelt recognizes that the Pure Food bill and the Naturalization bill must be considered first but hopes to be able to have all three bills pass.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-27

President Roosevelt asks Representative Dalzell to look over a letter with Representative Sereno Elisha Payne, and encloses a report for their references. He would to discuss the matter with both Congressmen soon, and hopes that the recommendations in the letter can be adopted.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-11

President Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Treasury Shaw if it is preferable to send a skilled man to Germany to negotiate the tariff matter. Roosevelt wants to avoid a tariff war and keep relations with Germany as friendly as possible. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-18

President Roosevelt asks William Miller Collier to get New York Representative Payne to write a line endorsing Collier for the ambassadorship to Spain. While Roosevelt says it is not necessary, it is desirable.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-16

Charles H. Betts would like Theodore Roosevelt to write a short piece for a special edition of The Lyons Republican that will be published to celebrate the paper’s 90th anniversary. He requests a piece about “American ideals,” but stresses that Roosevelt can write about whatever he chooses. In a postscript, he asks permission to print what Roosevelt told him in a letter regarding his views “relative to the ‘Court’s Decision.'”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-13

William Kent sends Theodore Roosevelt some “desultory remarks” that both amused and offended certain members of the United States Congress. Kent urges Roosevelt that they should begin to organize Robert M. La Follette’s run for presidency.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-11