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The article discusses H. H. Asquith’s ascension to the role of Prime Minister, and makes note of the fact that his appointment by King Edward VII took place in Biarritz, France. The article also discusses the political and economic conditions that Asquith and his government will face, particularly focusing on tariffs and taxation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-09
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.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1893-12-13
A large fountain has four basins labeled from top down, “Millionaire,” “Well-to-do,” “Middle Class,” and “Laboring Class.” The fountain stands on a platform labeled “Tax System.” The water, cascading down through each basin, is labeled “Burden of Taxation.” Caption: Eventually the bottom basin gets it.
The bottom basin in Udo J. Keppler’s odd cartoon without figures, features an off-putting octopus, surely keeping people from the fountain.
A fire at the Treasury Building is billowing clouds of smoke labeled “Deficit.” Nelson W. Aldrich is the fire chief, and he is telling firefighters Stephen B. Elkins, Joseph Gurney Cannon, Sereno Elisha Payne, and Jacob H. Gallinger to send a fire engine labeled “Lower Tariff” back to the station. President William H. Taft and Elihu Root carry a large fire extinguisher labeled “Corporation Tax” and race up the steps of the building, attempting to extinguish the blaze. Caption: Chief Aldrich (at the great Treasury blaze) — Send that engine home! We’ll put her out with the extinguisher!
Udo J. Keppler’s cartoon, for all its drama while debates over tariff legislation were raging in the Capital, betrays a certain ambiguity. Editorially, Puck frequently through the years occasionally was ambiguous about its position on tariffs and trusts. So were the political parties, despite the Republicans (who received the cartoonist’s attention here) generally being the party of big business and high tariffs. President Roosevelt had begun to warm to the concept of “fair trade” and reciprocal trade agreements, on a country-to-country basis. Such concepts would be strongly advocated by President William H. Taft, particularly with the Philippines; and famously with Canada. He was to stake — and lose — much of his political capital, urging Canadian reciprocity.
Levi P. Morton walks with a cane, holding a “Check Book,” with his left arm around a standard that states, “Down with the iniquitous Democratic Party!! It has the impudence to tax prosperity instead of poverty!!” Thomas Collier Platt has his right hand on the standard and is pointing to himself.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1894-10-17
A bicycle race is underway on the “National Track” with the man in the lead labeled “National Expenses” easily outstripping the second bicyclist labeled “National Revenue.” A man labeled “Dingley” is giving the second bicyclist a push. Caption: As run at present the man behind has no show.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1898-01-12
Print shows a “Hayseed Legislator” standing on the sidewalk of “Fifth Ave.” in New York City, pointing his umbrella toward a tenement house labeled “The Vanderbilt Flats Formerly the Marble Palace.” On Fifth Avenue there are street urchins, a hurdy-gurdy man with a monkey, a fruit vendor, and a man picking through the trash. Seen through windows on the ground floor of the tenement house are a woman using a sewing machine and a Chinese laundry. On the rooftop, a woman is hanging clothes on a clothesline. Caption: The New York up-country legislator will never be satisfied until he has taxed the millionaire out of the state.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1898-10-26
A “Hayseed” legislator wearing a hat labeled “N.Y. Republican Party” sits in a stupor on a large jug labeled “Raines Law,” holding a large wine bottle labeled “Hayseed Legislation.” He is slumped against a wall labeled “Albany,” with a bottle of alcohol at his feet labeled “Progressive Inheritance Tax,” and a bottle in his coat pocket labeled “Black’s Civil Service Bill.” The figure may represent Frank Swett Black, governor of New York. A man wearing a cap labeled “Tammany” is pulling papers labeled “Greater New York Patronage” from inside the coat of the legislator.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1897-05-26
President Taft sits in a rocking chair, tangled in yarn from balls labeled “Conservation, Rail Road Legislation, Postal Savings Tax, Income Tax, [and] Corporation Tax” that have fallen onto the floor and are the playthings of three cats labeled “The House, Senate, [and] The Cabinet” and a dog labeled “The Courts.” One ball of yarn labeled “My Policies” remains in a box shaped like the U.S. Capitol. Theodore Roosevelt is watching, disapprovingly, from a window on the side of the room.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1910-06-22
A “Republican” Congressman ice skates with a “Monopolist” on the “Capitol Skating Pond.” Together they hold a stick labeled “Money Interests.” Skating nearby is a man labeled “Democracy.” Between these men is another man who has fallen through the ice at a spot labeled “Needless Taxation.” His hat labeled “Tax Payer” rests on the ice. Caption: Republican Congressman – “He is howling for help.” Monopolist – “Throw him a promise!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1883-01-31
Puck, as a barker at a sideshow, presents as a “freak” the New York City tax payer. Puck points to a sign on the wall that states “Here you are now! The New York Tax-Payer!! The Greatest Curiosity ever on Exhibition! He pays $36 Per Capita. For the Privilege of Living in the Dirtiest and Worst-Governed City in the World!” Tax payers from Brooklyn at “$10.88 per capita, Berlin $7.35 per capita, Paris $5.40 per capita, [and] London $7.40 per capita” view the exhibit. Caption: He excites the wonder and amusement of the civilized world – including Brooklyn.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1886-01-06
Several members of Congress stand around a large Christmas tree labeled “Tax Surplus” decorated with money bags labeled “Surplus.” The legislators carry bags in which to place the bags of surplus they pluck from the tree. Among those identified are Charles W. Jones holding a bag labeled “Naval,” William E. Chandler holding a bag labeled “Subsidies for a Merchant Steam Marine,” William Mahone holding a bag labeled “Public Buildings and Grounds,” John A. Logan holding a bag labeled “Appropriations” and reaching for a sack on the tree, Joseph W. Keifer lifting George M. Robeson holding a bag labeled “Partners in the New Naval Scheme,” John Roach holding a bag labeled “New Navy Scheme,” Henry L. Dawes holding a bag labeled “River & Harbor Bill,” Francis M. Cockrell holding a bag labeled “Improvement of Mississippi River,” Eugene Hale holding a bag labeled “River & Harbor Bill,” John J. Ingalls holding a bag labeled “More Pensions,” Benjamin F. Jonas holding a bag labeled “Improvement of Mississippi River,” and Elbridge G. Lapham who is speaking to two well-dressed women, one holding a bag labeled “Lobby.” Lapham is also depicted in the angel at the top of the tree holding a banner labeled “Help Yourself.” Uncle Sam dances with three men in the foreground and, on the right, a lone “Taxpayer” stands outside in the snow.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1883-12-19
Print shows James G. Blaine slipping off a cask labeled “Whiskey”; under his arm is tucked a paper that states “Distribution of Surplus – Jim Blaine.” Caption: Our star diplomat par excellence, in his great whiskey-tax balancing feat.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1883-12-12
A man labeled “Tax-payer” has fallen on steps labeled “Congress.” He has a large boulder labeled “War Taxes on Iron on Sugar on Cloth Salt Leather [and] Linens” strapped to his back. On the steps is a small stone labeled “Tax Taken Off Patent Medicines, Perfumery, etc.” In the room at the top of the steps, many hands dip into a bowl of coins labeled “River & Harbor Bill.” Caption: “He asked for bread, and they gave him a stone!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1882-08-09
If there is a large crowd, Theodore Roosevelt wants to limit disappointment and give everyone a chance to see him. Roosevelt has sent several items to William Loeb and requests that he pay the duty for them from the Douglas Robinson account.
1910-04-21
President Roosevelt was happy to see Anna Roosevelt Cowles and hopes William Sheffield Cowles Jr. is improving after his recent surgery. Roosevelt is pleased by the recent editorials and proud of the developments around the franchise tax.
1905-06-02
At top left is “The Spirit of ’76,” showing a family about to sit down to tea, as boxes of tea are visible through a window in the back of the room, floating in Boston Harbor. The father, who has just entered, states: “Away with that tea or you’re no daughter of mine! Not a drop in this house until the hateful tax is taken off!” At bottom right is “The Spiritless 1907,” showing a family sitting at the dinner table where the grandfather is about to carve the beef. He states: “Ain’t it a shame the prices they charge for beef. But we’ve got to have it, Trust or no Trust.” At the bottom left, disgruntled patrons exit a “Market,” counting their change.
Cartoons in journals like Puck (and since, in the field) primarily have been partisan, political, or somewhere in the middle and to varying degrees of intensity, “commentary.” The commentary can be humorous, as S. D. Ehrhart’s once were, or more biting and incisive, as his became. This was generally true of his fellow cartoonists at the time, and magazines like Puck‘s rival Life always tended toward the social-commentary mode.
Police Commissioner Roosevelt informs John Jay Chapman that he has no intention of supporting any excise bill and that he would be happy to have lunch with Chapman anytime.
1896-01-28
An American citizen sits at a table, eating a meal. Every item on the table and almost every item in the dining room and kitchen in the background has a tag on it indicating at what percent that item has been taxed. For instance, the tag on the salt and pepper shakers states “Tax 33 per cent,” the tag on a potato and on the knife he is using states “Tax 40 per cent,” the tag on the table cloth states “Tax 45 per cent,” the tag on a teapot on the stove in the kitchen states “Tax 45 per cent,” and an insert shows a tombstone with a tag that states “Tax 50 per cent.” Caption: Republican tariff taxes make his “freedom” a mockery.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1912-09-25
A battered ironclad labeled “High Cost of Living” is being bombarded by several ironclads labeled “Berger, Shanks [sic], Sulzer, George, Jr., [and] Taft.” Their gun blasts are labeled, respectively, “Socialism, Municipal Market, Parcel Post, Single Tax, [and] Tariff Board,” and one unidentified “Monitor” with gun blast labeled “Free Trade.” Caption: The Civil War Merrimac was hard enough to whip, but this one may be harder.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1912-02-28