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President McKinley stands at center holding an “Inexhaustible Prosperity Hat” and surrounded by vignettes showing his accomplishments since taking office. Caption: A few of the wonders performed by magician McKinley, since his inauguration.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1897-10-06
A farmer and a laborer visit a “Savings Bank.” The farmer, who looks prosperous, is depositing money; while the laborer, who looks depressed, is making a withdrawal. Caption: The farmer is all right, – but the laborer is finding that it costs him more money to live.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1897-09-15
President William McKinley appears as Moses with two rays of light emitting from his top hat, and wearing a red cape labeled “McKinley.” He stands next to a large rock labeled “Prosperity” that has split and is spewing money toward a throng of people representing mostly the working class and the poor who stream from the factories in the background. Caption: The people foolishly think that McKinley will be able to tap the rock of prosperity, à la Moses, and make money flow like water.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1897-03-10
President McKinley drives a sleigh labeled “Prosperity,” drawn by a horse labeled “Administration.” He is towing two small sleds. One labeled “Defective Currency System” is carrying William Jennings Bryan, and the other labeled “Deficit” is carrying a bloated Nelson Dingley. Caption: McKinley–I wonder what makes this pesky thing pull so hard?
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1898-01-19
President McKinley stands at center holding a large cornucopia and emitting rays labeled “Prosperity,” while around him are vignettes showing people from all walks of life – doctors, cabbies, club men, real estate agents, actors, nobility seeking rich American wives, tramps, children, and old maids, even “The Hungry Heathen” – all with valentine wishes for McKinley and the hope of prosperity for themselves.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1897-02-17
A small chick labeled “Prosperity” has emerged from a large egg labeled “Easter 1897.” A rooster labeled “Rep. Party” is crowing in the background and a hen with the head of President McKinley is strutting on the right. Caption: It is pretty small yet – but it is bound to grow.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1897-04-21
William McKinley, wearing military uniform, appears underneath a large veil on a pedestal labeled “I am the veiled Mahatma of prosperity! Believe in me, ask no questions, and you will all roll in riches!!!” Charles H. Grosvenor stands on the left and Mark A. Hanna on the right dressed as magicians or wizards. A group of men prostrate themselves in the foreground, labeled “Gold Bug, Greenbacker, Free Silver Crank, Populist, High Protection Fanatic, [and] Any Kind of Money Crank.” In the background, on both sides, are large crowds, some holding signs labeled “Monopoly, Trusts, Combines, [and] Monopolists.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1896-06-17
“Captain Bill McKinley” stands at the bow of a steamboat labeled “High Protection” and “Monopoly & Co. builders” that has been patched in several places, lists to the stern, and is overloaded with passengers. Mark A. Hanna is standing at the helm in the pilothouse. McKinley is inviting more people to board while the boat is still at dock. A large sign on the wharf states, “Grand Excursion to Washington in the Elegant Steamer ‘High Protection,’ Bill McKinley, Captain. A Fortune Guaranteed for every Passenger!!! No More Debts!! No More Mortgages!! No More Poverty!! No More Work!!!!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1896-06-03
A larger-than-life-sized William McKinley campaigns on a street among a “Miner, Merchant, Mechanic [and his family], Farmer [with basket of corn labeled “Low Prices”], Banker, [and a] Manufacturer.” Along the street are “Closed” factories, a house with a “Mortgage,” an “Auction Sale” at the “General Store,” and money loaned at low interest rates at the “Bank.” McKinley has a paper labeled “Promises” tucked into a pocket of his vest and he is carrying a handful of balloons labeled “Prosperity for the Manufacturer, Prosperity for the Mechanic, Prosperity for the Merchant, Prosperity for the Miner, Prosperity for the Banker, Prosperity for the Laborer, [and] Prosperity for the Farmer.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1896-07-15
Uncle Sam flirts with a young woman labeled “The New Tariff.” She is holding a bouquet of flowers tied with ribbons labeled “Prosperity and Good Times” and “Increased Wages.” An elderly woman labeled “Republican Party” is sitting in the background. She appears shocked by Sam’s behavior.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1895-08-21
President Roosevelt says he is glad to see the people of Hickory, North Carolina, and to have traveled through North Carolina and Tennessee in the last few days. He says that he is pleased to witness the American South’s industrial growth, which he views as good for all sections of the country. He argues that it is better for some to prosper too much when all are prospering than for all to not have enough and that intelligent work is better than class envy or sectional conflict.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-09
Print shows William Jennings Bryan kneeling on steps labeled “Socialism, Inflation, [and] Paternalism” with his back to a statue of an old man labeled “Populism” sitting in a chair labeled “Free Silver” that is covered with cobwebs. He is appealing to a crowd of men, some of whom are labeled “Voter”, and a female figure labeled “Prosperity” skipping or running along a road that leads to a building labeled “Regular Party Politics.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1899-07-05
Print shows Uncle Sam, on the left, giving a bag of money to a man labeled “Socialist” and a bag of money to a man labeled “Businessman,” he tells them “Gentlemen, I have divided the wealth of the country equally among all the people. Here are your shares, now go ahead and be happy!” At center, “The Start”, the two men part ways with the socialist taking the path “To Idleness and Extravagance” and the businessman taking the path “To Industry and Thrift.” On the right, at “The Finish,” the two men again stand before Uncle Sam, this time the businessman is holding two bags of money and the dejected socialist is showing that his pockets are now empty.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1899-06-14
Print shows William Jennings Bryan standing on his toes on a platform, with his coat spread to the sides, trying to hide a huge female figure labeled “Prosperity,” who is pouring money from a cornucopia onto the platform; standing in the foreground are a businessman, a laborer, and a farmer. Caption: “It’s no use, Billy Bryan; – it’s grown too big!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1899-05-17
President William H. Taft directs male and female dancers on a stage in a production of “Princess Prosperity,” a script for which he is holding in his right hand. The male dancers hold empty wallets and the female dancers each carry a “Family Market Basket,” which is also empty. Caption: Stage-Director Taft – Smile! Smile like I do! Smile all – Smile!
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-09-08
Print shows a female figure labeled “Cuba” on one knee appealing to Uncle Sam for a continued American presence in Cuba, as a means to prevent “Famine, Pestilence, War, [and] Revolt” and for providing “Prosperity” and “Peace,” and trade in such products as “Tobacco, Cigars, Sugar, Coffee, [and] Fruit.”
Caption: Cuba–If you leave me to myself it will mean the old troubles. With your help I can have peace and prosperity. Do not desert me!
Print shows a pack of dogs, with their tails between their legs, howling at a full moon labeled “Prosperity” outside the U.S. Capitol building. The dogs are labeled “Tillman, [?], Vest, Jones, Bryan [his tail tied to a can labeled “16 to 1″], Altgeld, Gore, [and] Hogg.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1899-10-25
A richly dressed man stands in the street in a neighborhood of lavish homes, with two large bags of money hanging at his sides, labeled “Profits as Attorney at Law” and “Profits as Claim-Agent.” A smaller bag, labeled “Salary,” hangs at his waist.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1883-02-14
In this article, published in the Ladies Home Journal in April 1917, Theodore Roosevelt laments that many parents who have had to work hard to earn success spoil their children by sparing them such hard work. Both wealthy and poor parents are inclined to this fault. The children of such parents lack self-reliance and hardihood, essential character traits for their own success. The result is a decline not just for the individuals but also for the nation as a whole.
1917
Uncle Sam works at the “Free Pie Kitchen” offering daily distribution of free pies labeled “Long Term Franchise, Graft Tariff, Land Grant, [and] Special Privilege” to crooked businessmen labeled “Public Service Corporation, ‘Infant Industry’, Trust, Public Land Thief, [and] Predatory Wealth” standing in a long line or already enjoying their “Free” pies. Caption: The pie line.
The handsome cartoon by L. M. Glackens in Puck, depicting corporations, trusts, and the “predatory wealthy” receiving public funds under false pretenses probably was as ad hominem as the magazine ever got in its crusades. There are no specific politicians or moguls portrayed; Uncle Sam is the only recognizable figure. Additionally, no specific trusts are named or identified.