A group of senators (labeled Aldrich, Frye, Spooner, Penrose, Tillman, Bailey, Foraker, and Elkins) dressed as Native Americans perform a war dance around a totem pole with the face of President Theodore Roosevelt carved at the top. A drum labeled “The Press” is in the foreground while “Tom” and “Chauncey” stand in the background. Caption: Recent despatches from the Washington reservation report that the Senator Indians are again on the war path.
Comments and Context
Udo J. Keppler — after his father’s death known as Joseph Keppler, Junior — was an owner and chief cartoonist on Puck magazine. Rather neglected by history, and not as celebrated as his father, he arguably was the better artist, and a potent editorialist. During the first decade of the century, while the venerable Puck went downhill in circulation, the political viewpoints of Keppler and his staff evolved from conservative Democrat to Rooseveltian reformist to insurgent to radical-progressive.
This cartoon is more observational than tendentious, but allowed the artist to display his utter mastery of anatomy, as well as his affinity for Native American customs and lore. He and another Puck cartoonist, Will Crawford, developed an interest in Indian tribes and their status. Keppler became an advocate before his retirement around 1915, until his death in 1956. He was active with the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois Nation, who named him an honorary chief. So this cartoon was informed by, and by no means ridiculed, Indian rites.
