Reid, Whitelaw, 1837-1912

Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937

Creation Date

1885-04-15

Creator(s)

The monopolists’ may-pole

Several wealthy men, “Gould, W. K. Vanderbilt, W. H. Vanderbilt, Sage, Cornell, [and] Cornelius Vanderbilt,” some dressed as women, hold ticker tape and dance around a may pole. Cyrus W. Field, dressed as a woman, sits on a safe next to the pole. Sitting on a bench to the left are Chauncey M. Depew playing cymbals labeled “Monopolist Music” and Whitelaw Reid playing a horn labeled “Tribune.” Behind them is William M. Evarts looking out a window in a building labeled “Millionaires Snug Harbor,” and in the background is a “Monopoly Mill” labeled “Stocks” and “U. S. Bonds.” Lambs gambol nearby. Includes verse.

Collection

Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937

Creation Date

1885-04-29

Creator(s)

He can’t beat his own record

James Gillespie Blaine stands on the “Republican Race Track” in an arena, apparently frozen in position as his tattooed ghost races past him. A sign in the center of the track states “Presidential Race Against Time – Blaine to Beat His Own Record.” In the background is a tent with banner labeled “J. Blaine” and decked with floral wreaths that state “With Compliments J. Gould” and “With Compliments from C. Field,” and one shaped like a horseshoe from “R. Sage.” Whitelaw Reid stands outside the tent, holding a bucket and a sponge labeled “Tribune” and William Walter Phelps peaks through the flaps with a concerned look on his face. Among those in the grandstand on the left are A. M. Clapp, George M. Robeson, Alonzo B. Cornell, John Roach, and Thomas Jefferson Brady. Caption: Chorus of Friends “Go in, Jim! – brace up! Can’t you do any better than that?”

Collection

Creation Date

1884-07-30

Creator(s)

The opening of the “aggressive” campaign

Whitelaw Reid, in the dark shadows of a street, pours alcohol from a large jug labeled “Tribune Tonic Crooked Campaign Brand” into the open mouth of an Irish man wearing a plumed hat, a cape labeled “Plumed Dynamiters’ League,” and holding a large knife labeled “Blind Animosity” and a stick with a bomb attached to the end. Stephen B. Elkins, crouched behind Reid, is keeping a lookout. Both are wearing plumed hats. On the wall behind them is a notice that states “Grand Mass-Meeting! Mr. W. Reid will speak on ‘The spread of American Ideas among the Irish’.” Puck’s “Independent” Party figure is walking down the street with Grover Cleveland.

Collection

Creation Date

1884-08-06

Creator(s)

“Stop thief!”

Illustration, reminiscent of Thomas Nast’s cartoon of the same title published in Harper’s Weekly, October 7, 1871, hence “That trick is very stale”, shows a group of monopolists and Blaine supporters scattering on the street in response to the cry “Stop thief!” Joseph Keifer carries a sign that states “Beware of Cleveland the Monopolist” and Cyrus Field waves a sheet that states “Down with Cleveland the Monopolist.” Among the pursuers and those being pursued are William W. Phelps, Benjamin F. Butler carrying a bag of “Monopolist Fees”, Robert Ingersoll, Keifer, George M. Robeson, Whitelaw Reid throwing “Dust” in the eyes of workingmen, Alonzo Cornell, Field, James G. Blaine carrying a bag of “$ from Monopolists” and “R.R. Stocks,” Russell Sage, John Roach, and Jay Gould, as well as a dog with the face of John Kelly(?), and with a teapot labeled “Alliance with Monopolists” tied to its tail; all are determined to look like pursuers, instead of the object of the pursuit. Carl Schurz, dressed as a policeman, is standing on the sidewalk at far right. Two laborers are standing on the left, next to a sign that announces “Friend of the Workingman Meeting at Monopoly Hall To Night – J. Gould, C. Field, R. Sage, Robeson.” Caption: Level-Headed Workingman – “Too thin! That trick is very stale. I guess we know a monopolist when we see him!”

Collection

Creation Date

1884-08-06

Creator(s)

Bottom’s dream

Puck’s stereotypical Irishman labeled “Democracy” appears in the role of “Bottom” from Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with Puck holding the head of an ass above him. He is holding a paper that states “Free Protection for Revenue Only. Free Revenue Reform for Protection Only. To the Civil Service Reformers belong the Spoils!!!” A host of fairies, insects, and minions of the night are gathered around him, including Theodore Roosevelt as a fairy standing on a snail labeled “N. Y. City Reform,” John Logan as a mushroom, John Kelly as a spider on a web labeled “N. Y.,” William Evarts as a bird with a long beak, unidentified man as a frog, James Blaine and George Robeson as owls, David Davis, Samuel J. Tilden as a grasshopper, Roscoe Conkling as a bird, Whitelaw Reid labeled “3 cts” and another man labeled “2 cts” as moths, and a diminutive Chester A. Arthur peering from behind Bottom’s feet. Jay Gould appears as a snake in the bushes. Among the fairies are “Randall, Carlisle, Dana, Cleveland, Cox,” and Henry Watterson. Uncle Sam and Columbia observe from behind a tree. Includes Bottom’s lines “I have had a dream – past the wit of men to say what dream it was. … But man is but a patched fool if he will offer to say what methought I had” from the play.

Collection

Creation Date

1884-02-20

Creator(s)

Unknown

Building the ark

Republican revelers in the foreground make music as they pass a reform ark being constructed in the background. Depicted are John Sherman playing pipes labeled “Southern Outrages,” John Logan playing cymbals labeled “Pensions,” Whitelaw Reid playing pan pipes labeled “Monopoly,” James Blaine playing a lyre, George Robeson riding on a donkey labeled “Surplus,” with George Hoar, John Roach, Joseph Keifer, and Roscoe Conkling among them. Among the crowd that follows are Ulysses S. Grant, Jay Gould, and possibly Rutherford B. Hayes, also a man playing a tambourine labeled “Bossism” and another carrying a standard labeled “Spoils,” and one with a sign labeled “River & Harbor Frauds.” In the background, John Carlisle stands at the head of those building the ark. Also shown are Henry Watterson with hammer and chisel, William Morrison holding up “Morrison’s Tariff Reform Plan,” and Abram Hewitt holding “Hewitt’s Free Trade Plank.” The ribs of the ship are labeled “Tariff Reform, Raw Materials Free, Lower Iron Tax, Lower Tax on Woolens, [and] Works of Art Free.”

Collection

Creation Date

1884-03-05

Creator(s)

Passing everything on the road

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

Creation Date

1884-02-06

Creator(s)

The national dime-museum – will be run during the presidential campaign

A gallery of presidential candidates includes, clockwise, from bottom left: John Kelly as a card-playing pig, Chester A. Arthur as “The Snake Charmer” charming a snake labeled “Stalwart Vote” with a horn labeled “Patronage,” Benjamin F. Butler as “What is it?,” “Siamese Twins Keifer [and] Robeson,” John A. Logan as the “Wild Zulu on the Warpath,” “Carlisle, Morrison, [and] Hewitt” as a “Wax Group of Three Heroes Who Perished in an Attempt to Reach the Pole of Tariff Reform,” “‘Richelieu’ Robinson” as a “Fire Eater,” Charles A. “Dana” as a “Screech Parrot,” a cage containing an “Un-Happy Family – N.Y. Board of Aldermen,” an “Ancient Mummy Exhumed Lately” labeled “1876 Fraud Issue – S. J. T.,” John “Sherman” as “The Man in the Bloody Shirt,” Henry Watterson as a buffalo, Whitelaw Reid as a giraffe, and Samuel J. Randall(?) as “The Democratic White Elephant,” William “Evarts” as the thin man, Roscoe Conkling as the bearded lady, David “Davis” as the Fat Lady, Robert Todd “Lincoln” and George F. “Edmunds” as “The Two Giants,” James G. Blaine as the tattooed man, T. C. “Platt” and William “Mahone” as Tom Thumb and his bride, and Samuel S. “Cox” as a dancing poodle. In the center is a stuffed tiger labeled “Tammany” on a pedestal labeled “Killed by Roosevelt.”

Collection

Creation Date

1884-04-16

Creator(s)

Spoiling their calculations

James Gillespie Blaine and Chester Alan Arthur sit at a table on which are papers that state “The Republican State Convention at Utica, N.Y., April 23 1884” and “The Delegates At Large of New York for J. G. Blaine” and “The Delegates At Large of New York for Chester A. Arthur.” Standing between Blaine and Arthur is a man labeled “Independent Voter.” He is wielding a quill pen labeled “Balance of Power” and has drawn an “X” on Blaine’s paper and is about to mark Arthur’s paper. Through windows in the background can be seen crowds, on the left, “For C. A. Arthur” and one man labeled “J. O’Brien” and on the right, “For J. G. Blaine” with Whitelaw Reid visible in the foreground.

Collection

Creation Date

1884-04-30

Creator(s)

More than she can carry

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

Creation Date

1884-05-14

Creator(s)

Phryne before the Chicago tribunal

Republican presidential candidate James G. Blaine as the prostitute “Phryne” is revealed by Whitelaw Reid, wearing shorts, a bib labeled “Magnetic Pad,” and covered with tattoos relating to his various shady dealings, standing before Republican delegates who are dressed as Greek senators. Among those depicted are George W. Curtis, William M. Evarts, Carl Schurz, a youthful Theodore Roosevelt, Benjamin Bristow, Warner Miller, William H. Robertson, John A. Logan, John Sherman, James Donald Cameron, Simon Cameron, Benjamin Harrison, and George F. Edmunds. Drawing is based on J. L. Gerome’s 1861 painting “Phyrne Before the Areopagus.” Caption: Ardent Advocate “Now, Gentlemen, don’t make any mistake in your decision! Here’s purity and magnetism for you – can’t be beat!”

Collection

Creation Date

1884-06-04

Creator(s)

Another bombardment – the newspaper fleet firing on the Bedouins in Washington

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

Creation Date

1882-08-02

Creator(s)

The receiving-vault of the Republican politicians who defied public morality

A procession carries an embalmed James Gillespie Blaine to a place among other embalmed Republicans in an Egyptian tomb. Among those previously embalmed are Thomas Collier Platt, Stephen W. Dorsey, Thomas Brady, Ulysses S. Grant, Roscoe Conkling, George M. Robeson, Joseph W. Keifer, William P. Kellogg, and William Belknap. Among those carrying the embalmed Blaine, labeled “Nominated June 6, Embalmed Nov. 1884” are William W. Phelps, Whitelaw Reid, William H. Robertson, Powell Clayton, and Joseph Medill. Caption: The wire-pullers have nominated him; but the people will send him where they have sent the others.

Collection

Creation Date

1884-06-11

Creator(s)

The writing on the wall

At a dinner party is presidential candidate James Gillespie Blaine, who is trying to cover himself with pages of the New York Tribune, and by his side, vice-presidential candidate John A. Logan. Seated around a table set with “Pension Pie, Monopoly Stew, [and] Star Route Shortcake” are James W. Husted, Chancey M. Depew, Powell Clayton, Joseph Medill, Stephen W. Dorsey, Thomas J. Brady, a man identified as “Elkins,” William H. Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, Cyrus W. Field, Whitelaw Reid on his feet, John Roach, and Robert G. Ingersoll fleeing with a bone labeled “Star Route Spoils.” Blaine wears an “Anti-Sunstroke Cabbage Leaf” on his head, to which is attached a quill pen labeled “Gail Hamilton.” Projected onto a wall at the far end of the room are the words “Republican Revolt,” which has frightened everyone in the room.

Collection

Creation Date

1884-06-18

Creator(s)

His boasted magnetism – and the kind of metal it attracts

James Gillespie Blaine is the “plumed knight” wearing cabbage leaves on his head with two plumes labeled “Brag” and “Bluster,” and with a quill pen labeled “Gail Hamilton.” He holds a sword labeled “Guano Statesmanship” and a shield labeled “Monopoly Press,” and his legs are the bars of a horseshoe magnet labeled “Spoils System.” He sits on a pile of “Mulligan Letters” and “R. R. Bonds.” Attracted to the magnet are George M. Robeson labeled “Navy Swindles,” Whitelaw Reid, John A. Logan labeled “Hoodlum,” Col. John A. Joyce labeled “Ex-Convict,” Stephen W. Dorsey, William P. Kellogg labeled “Louisiana Frauds,” Joseph W. Keifer labeled “Speakership Corruption,” Cyrus W. Field labeled “‘L’ Road Swindle,” Jay Gould labeled “R. R. Wrecker,” Robert G. Ingersoll labeled “Star Route Plunder,” John Roach labeled “Navy Jobs,” Alonzo B. Cornell labeled “Blind Pool,” Thomas Collier Platt labeled “Me Too!!”, Schuyler Colfax labeled “Credit Mobilier,” Thomas J. Brady labeled “Star Router,” Powell Clayton labeled “Arkansas Frauds,” Russell Sage labeled “Wall Street Stock Gambler,” and Roscoe Conkling.

Collection

Creation Date

1884-06-25

Creator(s)

The Administration sawmill

President Cleveland stands next to a large “Reform Buzz-Saw” labeled “Pat. 1884 by G. Cleveland” at a sawmill, where three members of his cabinet “Manning, Whitney, [and] Bayard” are milling lumber labeled “For the Improvement of the Custom House” and “Props for the Navy.” A carpenter’s square labeled “Honesty” rests against some boards at Cleveland’s feet. A group of newspaper editors, congressmen, and a dog labeled “Blaine’s Pup” have entered on the left. Among them are “Dana, McLean, Vance, Eustis, Reid, Beck, Evarts, Sherman, Medill, [and] Edmunds.” They are standing just outside the “Secretarys Office” where Daniel S. Lamont is sitting. Through the open door is visible a wagon loaded with large logs labeled “Mormon Question, Silver Question, Tariff Ques, [and] Coast Defences.” Caption: Foreman Cleveland (kindly but firmly) “Boys, don’t monkey with the buzz-saw!”

Collection

Creation Date

1886-02-03

Creator(s)

In the jaws of death – a cold day for the Independent Party

Print shows Puck’s figure for the “Independent Party” in a small sailboat of that name, flying a banner labeled “Independents”, sailing through icy waters among large icebergs. In the background two ships labeled “Tariff Reform” and “Civil Service Reform” have wrecked on icebergs. Among the faces in the icebergs are Rutherford B. Hayes, Roscoe Conkling, George M. Robeson, William Mahone, George F. Hoar, James G. Blaine, Jay Gould, Cyrus W. Field, John Sherman, John A. Logan, Whitelaw Reid, Samuel J. Tilden, Hubert O. Thompson, John Kelly, Charles A. Dana, Thomas Hendricks, Thomas F. Bayard, Winfield Scott Hancock, Benjamin F. Butler, Grover Cleveland, Ulysses S. Grant, Allen G. Thurman, Abram S. Hewitt, and Chester A. Arthur.

Collection

Creation Date

1883-11-07

Creator(s)

“Evacuation day” March 4th, 1885 – a Democratic dream

Print shows the Republican Party, led by Chester A. Arthur, laying down their arms, with George M. Robeson, James G. Blaine, Roscoe Conkling, Whitelaw Reid, Carl Schurz, John Sherman, Charles J. Folger, Robert T. Lincoln, John A. Logan, Ulysses S. Grant, James D. Cameron, George F. Hoar, George F. Edmunds, and Henry Ward Beecher, exiting a citadel in the background. They are surrendering the presidency to the Democratic Party, led by newspaper editors Joseph Pulitzer of the N.Y. World, Charles A. Dana, and Henry Watterson. Samuel J. Tilden “Old Ticket,” Benjamin F. Butler, Grover Cleveland, Thomas Hendricks, Winfield Scott Hancock, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Thomas F. Bayard are on horseback, and Tammany Hall, led by John Kelly, marches under the banner “To the Victors Belong the Spoils.”

Collection

Creation Date

1883-11-21

Creator(s)

Another patient for Pasteur

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