Scandals

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

Ulysses S. Grant recommends to President Chester A. Arthur some “friends” of his as political appointees. All the men shown were involved in scandals during Grant’s administration. Caption: General Grant “Don’t be troubled if a few fellows do decline. Here are some friends of mine who never refuse office.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1881-11-02

Print shows John A. Logan wearing a military uniform with plumed hat labeled “Anti-Arthur” and carrying a large sword labeled “Pension Swindle,” walking across a bridge comprised of three monkeys with the faces of Roscoe Conkling, Ulysses S. Grant, and James G. Blaine. Blaine hugs a tree labeled “Old Time Popularity,” Grant forms the middle link, and Conkling grips the U.S. Capitol building with his feet. There is a coconut labeled “Cocoanut Presidency” on top of the Capitol dome.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-12-26

Print shows Chester A. Arthur riding the Republican elephant tossed high in the air in a “Political Arena.” The elephant is patched with scandals labeled “Credit Mobilier, Collusion with Monopolies, Back Pay Grab, Third Termism, Whiskey Ring, Navy Ring, [and] Dorsey ‘Soap’ 1880.” Below, on the floor of the arena, Samuel J. Tilden is sitting backwards on a donkey labeled “Incurable” and Puck’s Independent Party figure is riding a bucking bull, its horns labeled “Anti-Monopoly” and “Tariff Reform.” Puck applauds from a viewing stand on the right; sitting in the grandstand at left are Ulysses S. Grant, Cyrus W. Field, Rutherford B. Hayes, Thomas F. Bayard, Winfield Scott Hancock, Benjamin F. Butler, Adams, David Davis, Allen G. Thurman, William M. Evarts, Abram S. Hewitt, George F. Edmunds, Wayne MacVeagh, and George B. McClellan. Caption: Puck presents another prophetic cartoon – and the sooner it is realized the better.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-04-19

The tattooed legs and bottom of James G. Blaine and the tail of a dog labeled “We Claim Everything – Me & Jack” appear in a lake next to a bar of soap labeled “Hurrah Soap – to Remove Tattoo.” They had been sitting on a board labeled “Soap Campaign,” which has broken, dumping them into the lake. Roscoe Conkling observes from the weeds in the upper right.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-11-19

James Gillespie Blaine is dressed as a knight, with the plumes of his helmet labeled “Dodger, Speakership Record, [and] Mulligan Letters.” He holds papers labeled “Aggressive Cash Campaign” and has his other hand in a bag of money labeled “Vote Persuader.” He is riding in a wagon labeled “J. G. Blaine, Unlicensed Vendor, Stocks, Political Influence, etc.,” the seat of which is labeled “Compressed Magnetism.” William Walter Phelps is riding on the back of the wagon, sitting on boxes of “Condensed Fireworks” and “Campaign Lies, Scandals.” He is holding a portrait painting of George Washington labeled “J. G. Blaine.” At the front of the wagon, “Dorsey, Brady, [Robeson, and] Keifer” are pulling, and at the back “Gould, Clapp, [and] Clayton” are pushing. Whitelaw Reid marches alongside as a one-man band playing a horn labeled “Brag,” a drum labeled “Bluster,” an organ labeled “Blaine Organ,” a bellows labeled “Campaign Wind,” and firing a cannon labeled “Blaine Orgun.” Stephen B. Elkins, in the background on the left, waves a whip that spells “Enthusiasm,” and former Vice President Schuyler Colfax, with a “Credit Mobilier” plume in his cap, carries the standard that states, “Westward The Star of Corruption Fakes its Way.” They are passing a sign that states “To Ohio.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-10-01

James Gillespie Blaine is pictured as Tantalus chained to a large rock labeled “Mulligan Letters” and standing on rocks labeled “Guano” and “Northern Pacific R. R.,” yearning to reach a table laden with food and drink labeled “Presidential Cake, Patronage, [and] Spoils.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-10-08

“Butler Fly-Paper Prepared only by Blaine, Elkins, & Co.,” to which flies do not stick, lies on a plate on a table. Stephen B. Elkins, standing in the background, is drinking from a bottle labeled “Star Route Syrup $.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-10-15

James G. Blaine stands before starving miners outside the entrance to the “Hocking Valley Mines.” He is holding a paper that states “Blaine’s $25,000 share in ‘Hocking Valley’ Ohio,” and on the ground behind him is a paper that states “I have never ‘owned a share of stock in any coal, iron or land company in the state of Ohio’ J. G. Blaine.” In the background, on the left, is a large house with banner that states “J. G. Blaine’s Washington House cost $150,000,” and at center a band of “Italian Cheap Labor” miners are coming up the road. Caption: Hungry Miner – “You call yourself our friend! Your ask for our votes! Why, you are the ally of the monopolists who starved us out in Hocking Valley, and imported cheap Italian laborers to take our places!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-10-15

The spirits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln look at a throne draped with an American flag beneath a sign that states, “This coming term will end the first hundred years of the American presidency. Shall the century begun with Washington at the head of government end in disgrace with James G. Blaine in that sacred chair?” Below is Blaine, tattooed with scandals and frightened by the shades of past presidents, his hat labeled “Corruption” falling off, with his foot on the first step toward the presidency. Leaning against his back is Jay Gould holding a paper that states “Four Supreme Court judges to be appointed by the next president.” Also behind Blaine, on his hands and knees, is Stephen W. Dorsey, next to a paper on the floor that states, “Honesty No Requisite for the Presidency (Blaine’s Theory).” On the right stands Benjamin F. Butler as a court jester labeled “Barcain with Blaine.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-10-29

At the entrance to the “Republican Headquarter,” a foot extends out the door, having given the boot to a barrel dressed as a cleric labeled “Clerical Slanders,” a bag labeled “British Gold” with a hole spilling “Sand,” and a “Bloody Shirt.” A large flag waving nearby is labeled “Me and Jack,” and a wagon passing in the street is weighed down with “Slanders.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-11-05

Print shows Wayne MacVeagh wearing a workman’s apron and holding papers labeled “Wayne McVeagh Resignation,” standing in front of a brick wall with a large star on it labeled “To be Bricked up for Star Route Jobbery,” with an opening showing Stephen W. Dorsey and Thomas J. Brady. Bricks and mortar labeled “Retribution Mortar” are at the base of the wall, and a pile of “Investigation Sand” is to the left. Caption: McVeagh “Good bye, my brethren; you thoroughly deserve to be bricked up; but I’m afraid I can’t wait to finish the job!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1881-10-05

Whitelaw Reid, pictured as a bishop, absolves James Gillespie Blaine, who is kneeling on a long list of scandals, at a confessional labeled “Tribune Sanctum.” On the floor between them is a statement published in the “N. Y. Tribune, Sept. 30, 1872” stating, “The startling exposure of Speaker Blaine’s venality in connection with the Union Pacific Road, Eastern Division, entirely destroys, of course, whatever credit some people may have given to his evasive denial of the Oakes Ames bribery, and puts the whole case of the Crédit Mobilier upon a different basis. *** Now it is shown that Speaker Blaine never deserved his good reputation. He has taken bribes in another case.” Caption: W. R. – “I absolve you! Go forth a pure and a guiltless man!” – Puck (aside) – “But that won’t save him on ‘Judgement-Day.'”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-09-03

James Gillespie Blaine is dressed as a knight, with the plumes of his helmet labeled “Speakership Record, Mulligan Letters, [and] Credit Mobilier.” He holds papers labeled “Aggressive Cash Campaign,” and rests his left hand on the head of William Walter Phelps who is holding a sword and a battered shield labeled “Blaines Magnetism.” Whitelaw Reid, wearing a paper hat, carries a standard that states “Moral Ideas,” (crossed out) “Soap and Success!” Stephen B. Elkins presents a “Report” to John Alexander Logan and Blaine that states “Great Victory in Maine! Blaine Vindicated! Cost $265,000.” Charles A. Dana sits in the lower right corner pouring “Personal Animosity” into cannonballs labeled “Personal Animosity, Spite, Mud Bombs, [and] Malice.” Frederick Douglass holds a sign labeled “Mulligan Guards Blaine’s Record” that appears to have drawn considerable enemy fire. On the left, “A. M. Clapp” turns his empty pockets inside out and George M. Robeson looks at an empty cash barrel. In the background, there is action at the “Whiskey Arsenal, Fort Cleveland, Polls, [and] Fort St. John” and casualties on the battlefield. Caption: “Another victory like this and our money’s gone!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-09-17

Several reporters for disreputable newspapers, such as “Reporter of the ‘Daily Sewer'” and “Reporter for the ‘Daily Garbage Barrel,'” are barred from entering a courthouse. Caption: The reporters of incorrigible scandal-mongering journals must be kept out of the criminal courts, or we shall have to keep the newspapers out of our homes.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-06-03

Print shows the interior of the “N.Y. Sun Editorial Rooms” where “Political Scandals [are] Promptly Attended to,” also “Post Mortem Scandals Especially Desired”, with elderly editor Charles A. Dana sitting at a desk, listening through an earhorn to Stephen W. Dorsey who is labeled “Public Contempt,” wearing tattered clothing, and with his left arm in a sling labeled “Acquitted by a Washington Jury.” Dana is transcribing “Dorsey’s Own Statement”; an inkpot on the desk is labeled “Gall.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-07-25

A man labeled “Corporate Corruption” and a baby boy labeled “Rail Road Scandal” lie sick in bed. Another young child labeled “Life Insurance Scandal” is trying to climb into the bed. Hanging on the wall above the bed is a portrait labeled “E.H.H.” A man departing the room carries a doctor’s bag labeled “Interstate Commerce Com. M.D.” On a table in the foreground is a bank for “Other People’s Pennies” and a bottle of “Legislation Drops.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The point of Udo J. Keppler’s cover cartoon can be summed up as observing that the insurgent-Muckraking era’s reforms, especially those enacted in bloody battles of 1906, would not enforce themselves.

President Roosevelt addresses journalist Ernest Harvier’s editorial in The Sunday Democrat involving his handling of an incident related to Maria Longworth Storer.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1906-04-18

Lawrence F. Abbott clarifies that a reference to ex-Postmaster General, which was made in an article in The Outlook about the Post Office fraud case, was in reference to James N. Tyner. Abbott plans to include information from President Roosevelt’s letter, about the publication of the Post Office report, in the next edition of the magazine. Abbott is awaiting the decision concerning Leonard Wood’s promotion to major general.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-14

Lawrence F. Abbott of the Outlook magazine writes to President Roosevelt with a list of the alleged scandals connected to General Leonard Wood. He then lays out a rebuttal to prove Wood’s innocence. Abbott would like to publish those points to restore Wood’s integrity, but cannot do so unless the president vouches for Wood or provides documentary proof, both of which Abbott asks Roosevelt to provide.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-17