Wealth

A man labeled “Stock Manipulation,” wearing top hat and tuxedo, rests one hand on a deck of “Marked Cards” and the other on a stack of gambling chips next to “Loaded Dice” and a wheel labeled “Brace Roulette.” The playing table is labeled “Wall Str[eet].” Behind him are money bags and papers labeled “Fiduciary Funds, Treasury Deposits, Other Peoples’ Money, Bank Loans, [and] Pools.” Standing in the foreground and looking up at the man is a diminutive man holding his “Savings” behind his back.

comments and context

Comments and Context

As Puck Magazine evolved or matured, it grew more radical. This generally was within the drift of the major parties and the public, as reflected in political platforms and editorial opinion. A component of its commentaries were rejection of the corruption and malign political influence of big business, monopolies, and those whom President Roosevelt called the “malefactors of great wealth” with inordinate influence on politics and the economy.

A police officer labeled “Graft Tariff” prevents a working class family from having a picnic on the grass while a group of men labeled “Beef Trust, Coal Trust, Steel Trust, Lumber Trust, [and] Clothing Trust,” with two servants, one labeled “A.P.T.L.,” are having a picnic on the lawn labeled “Prosperity.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon by Udo J. Keppler was published just as the Wall Street Panic of 1907 was threatening to turn into a crash or depression, yet seemed to ignore the burning issue of the day. Of course the generic “us versus them” cliche might have been pertinent once again, except for the fact and the public perception that big business was as much a potential victim as a real perpetrator of events.

At a Fourth of July celebration, a man stands on a large podium reading the “Declaration of Independence” before a cheering crowd. He is sandwiched between two large figures wearing robes and crowns labeled “Predatory Wealth” and “Predatory Labor.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

A recurring theme in Puck Magazine through the years was the Scylla and Charybdis represented by Big Business and Big Labor — not merely their bigness (the view of some latter-day Jeffersonians) but the real and potential abuses flowing therefrom. Joseph Keppler, Senior, founder of Puck, and his son Udo J. Keppler, the artist of this cartoon, perhaps more than other cartoonists, maintained this critique through the years.

On the left “Under a Low Tariff” is a large, prosperous, well-fed family with servants. On the right “Under a High Tariff” is a small family sitting in a dark chamber, poring over the bills.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-05-17