The World(Newspaper).
The World(Newspaper).
Horatius Cleveland at the Bridge.From New York "Life."
Horatius Cleveland at the Bridge.
From New York "Life."
Bernard Gillam of "Judge."
Bernard Gillam of "Judge."
The reason for this difference may be summed up in a single word—Journalism. The modern cartoon is essentially journalistic, both in spirit and in execution. The spasmodic single sheets of Gillray's period, huge lithographs that found their way to the public through the medium of London print shops, were long ago replaced by the weekly comic papers, while to-day these in turn find formidable rivals in the cartoons which have become a feature of most of the leadingdaily journals. The celerity with which a caricature is now conceived and executed, thanks to the modern mechanical improvements and the prevailing spirit of alertness, makes it possible for the cartoonist to keep pace with the news of the day, to seize upon the latest political blunder, the social fad of the moment, and hit it off with a stroke of incisive irony, without fear that it will be forgotten before the drawing can appear in print. The consequences of all this modern haste and enterprise are not wholly advantageous. Real talent is often wasted upon mediocre ideas under the compulsion of producing a daily cartoon, and again a really brilliant conception is marred by overhaste in execution, a lack of artistic finish in the detail. Besides, the tendency of a large part of contemporary cartoons is toward the local andthe ephemeral. This is especially true of the caricatures which appear during an American political campaign, in which every petty blunder, every local issue, every bit of personal gossip, is magnified into a vital national principle, a world-wide scandal. And when the morning after the election dawns, the business settles down into its wonted channel, these momentous issues, and the flamboyant cartoons which proclaimed them, suddenly become as trivial and as empty as a spent firecracker or Roman candle.
Joseph Keppler of "Puck."
Joseph Keppler of "Puck."
But another change which the spirit of journalism has wrought in the contemporary cartoon, and a more vital change than any other, is due to the definite editorial policy which lies behind it. The dominant note in all the work of the great cartoonists of the past, in the English Gillray andthe French Daumier, was the note of individualism. Take away the personal rancor, the almost irrational hatred of "Little Boney" from Gillray, take away Daumier's mordant irony, his fearless contempt for Louis Philippe, and the life of their work is gone. The typical cartoon of to-day is, to a large extent, not a one-man production at all. It is frequently built up, piecemeal, one detail at a time, and in the case of a journal likePunchorJudgeorLifeoften represents the thoughtful collaboration of the entire staff. In the case of the leading dailies, the cartoon must be in accord with the settled political policy of the paper, as much as the leading articles on the editorial page. The individual preferences of the cartoonist do not count. In fact, he may be doing daily violence to his settled convictions, or he may find means of espousing both sides at once, as was the case with Mr. Gillam, who throughout the Cleveland-Blaine campaign was impartially drawing Democratic cartoons forPuckand suggesting Republican cartoons forJudgeat the same time.
What the political cartoon will become in the future, it is dangerous to predict. There is, however, every indication that its influence, instead of diminishing, is likely to increase steadily. What it has lost in ceasing to be the expression of the individual mind, the impulsive product of erratic genius, it has more than gained in its increased timeliness, its greater sobriety, its more sustained and definite purpose. At certain epochs in the past it has served as a vehicle for reckless scandal-mongering and scurrilous personal abuse. But this it seems to have happily outgrown. That pictorial satire may be made forceful without the sacrifice of dignity was long ago demonstrated by Tenniel's powerful work in the pages ofPunch. And there is no doubt that a serious political issue, when presented in the form ofa telling cartoon, will be borne home to the minds of a far larger circle of average every-day men and women than it ever could be when discussed in the cold black and white of the editorial column.
The John Bull Octopus in Egypt.From "Il Papagallo" (Rome).
The John Bull Octopus in Egypt.
From "Il Papagallo" (Rome).
A Hand against every Man.From London "Judy," April 13, 1892.
A Hand against every Man.
From London "Judy," April 13, 1892.
The Stability of the Triple Alliance.From "Il Papagallo" (Rome).
The Stability of the Triple Alliance.
From "Il Papagallo" (Rome).
Another interesting effect of the growing conservative spirit in caricature is seen in the gradual crystallization of certain definite symbolic types. Allusion has already been made, in earlier chapters of this work, to the manner in which the conception of John Bull and Uncle Sam and other analogous types, has been gradually built up by almost imperceptible degrees, each artist preserving all the essential work of his predecessor, and adding a certain indefinable something of his own, until a certain definite portrait has been produced, a permanent ideal, whose characteristic features thecartoonists of the future could no more alter arbitrarily than they could the features of Bismarck or Gladstone. And not only have these crystallized types become accepted by the nation at large,—not only is Uncle Sam the same familiar figure, tall and lanky, from the New YorkPuckto the San FranciscoWasp,—but gradually these national types have migrated and crossed the seas, and to-day they are the common property of comic artists of all nations. John Bull and the Russian Bear, Columbia and the American Eagle, are essentially the same, whether we meet them in the press of Canada, Australia, Cape Colony, or the United States. And for the very reason that there is so little variety in the obvious features, the mere physical contour, the subtler differences due to race prejudice and individual limitations are all themore significant and interesting. There are cases, and comparatively recent cases, too, where race-prejudice has found expression in such rampant and illogical violence as prompted many of the Spanish cartoons during our recent war over Cuba, in which Americans were regularly portrayed as hogs—big hogs and little hogs, some in hog-pens, others running at large—but one and all of them as hogs. The cartoonists of the Continent, Frenchmen, Germans, and Italians alike, have difficulty in accepting the Anglo-Saxon type of John Bull. Instead, they usually portray him as a sort of sad-faced travesty upon Lord Dundreary, a tall, lank, much bewhiskered "milord," familiar to patrons of Continental farce-comedy. But it is not in cases like these that race prejudice becomes interesting. There is nothing subtle orsuggestive in mere vituperation, whether verbal or pictorial, any more than in the persistent representation of a nation by a type which is no sense representative. On the other hand, the subtle variations of expression in the John Bull of contemporary American artists, or the Uncle Sam of British caricature, will repay careful study. They form a sort of sensitive barometer of public sentiment in the two countries, and excepting during the rare periods of exceptional good feeling there is always in the Englishman's conception of Uncle Sam a scarce-concealed suggestion of crafty malice in place of his customary kindly shrewdness, while conversely, our portrayal of John Bull is only too apt to convert that bluff, honest-hearted country gentleman into a sort of arrogant blusterer, greedy for gain, yet showing the vein of cowardice distinctive of the born bully.
In marked contrast to the preceding lengthy period of tranquillity, the closing decade of the nineteenth century witnessed a succession of wars and international crises well calculated to stimulate the pencils of every cartoonist worthy of the name. One has only to recall that to this period belong the conflict between China and Japan, the brief clash between Greece and Turkey, the beginning of our policy of expansion, with the annexation of Hawaii, our own war with Spain, and England's protracted struggle in the Transvaal, to realize how rich in stirring events these few years have been, and what opportunities they offer for dramatic caricature.
I. Absolute Monarchy.II. Constitutional Government.III. Middle Class Republic.IV. Social Republic.A Present Day Lesson.From the "Revue Encyclopédique."
I. Absolute Monarchy.II. Constitutional Government.III. Middle Class Republic.IV. Social Republic.
A Present Day Lesson.
From the "Revue Encyclopédique."
APunchslip: a cartoon published in anticipation of an event which didnotoccur—viz. the meeting of General Gordon and General Stewart at Khartoum.By Tenniel, February 7, 1885.
APunchslip: a cartoon published in anticipation of an event which didnotoccur—viz. the meeting of General Gordon and General Stewart at Khartoum.
By Tenniel, February 7, 1885.
Telegram, Thursday morning, Feb. 5.—"Khartoum taken by the Mahdi. General Gordon's fate uncertain."By Tenniel, February 14, 1885.
Telegram, Thursday morning, Feb. 5.—"Khartoum taken by the Mahdi. General Gordon's fate uncertain."
By Tenniel, February 14, 1885.
The London "Times" and the Spurious Parnell Letters.
A cartoon produced in an earlier chapter, entitled "Waiting," showed General Gordon gazing anxiously across the desert at the mirage which was conjured up by his fevered brain, taking the clouds of the horizon to be the guns of the approaching British army of relief. Early in 1885 the relief expedition started under the command of General Henry Stewart, and on February 7 there was published inPunchthe famous cartoon "At Last," showing the meeting between Gordon and the relieving general. This was a famousPunchslip. That meeting never occurred. For on February 5, two days before the appearance of the issue containing the cartoon, Khartoum had been taken by the Mahdi. The following week Tenniel followed up "At Last" with the cartoon "Too Late," whichshowed the Mahdi and his fanatic following pouring into Khartoum, while stricken Britannia covers her eyes.
Tenniel's Famous Cartoon at the Time of Bismarck's Retirement.
Tenniel's Famous Cartoon at the Time of Bismarck's Retirement.
TheTimeschallenge to Charles Stewart Parnell was, of course, recorded in the caricature ofPunch. The "Thunderer," it will be remembered, published letters, which it believed to be genuine, involving Parnell in the murders of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke in Phœnix Park, Dublin, in 1882. When these letters were proved to have been forged by Pigot,Punchpublished a cartoon showingtheTimesdoing penance. Both of these cartoons were by Tenniel. "The Challenge" appeared in the issue of April 30, 1887, and "Penance" almost two years later, March 9, 1889.
L'enfant Terrible.The Baccarat Scandal at Tranby Croft in 1891.From "Puck."
L'enfant Terrible.
The Baccarat Scandal at Tranby Croft in 1891.
From "Puck."
A cartoon which marked Tenniel's genius at its height, a cartoon worthy of being ranked with that which depicted the British Lion's vengeance on the Bengal Tiger after the atrocities of the Sepoy rebellion, was his famous "Dropping the Pilot," which was published on March 29, 1890, after William II. of Germany had decided to dispense with the services of the Iron Chancellor. Over the side of the shipof state the young Emperor is leaning complacently looking down on the grim old pilot, who has descended the ladder and is about to step into the boat that is to bear him ashore. The original sketch of this cartoon was finished by Tenniel as a commission from Lord Rosebery, who gave it to Bismarck. The picture is said to have pleased both the Emperor and the Prince.
William Bluebeard."My first two wives are dead. Take care, Hohenlohe, lest the same fate overtake you."From "La Silhouette" (Paris).
William Bluebeard.
"My first two wives are dead. Take care, Hohenlohe, lest the same fate overtake you."
From "La Silhouette" (Paris).
The baccarat scandal at Tranby Croft and the subsequent trial at which the then Prince of Wales was present as a witness was a rich morsel for the caricaturist in the early summer of 1891. Not only in England, but on the Continent and in this country, the press was full of jibes and banter at the Prince's expense. The German comic paper,Ulk, suggested pictorially a new coat-of-arms for his Royal Highness in which various playing cards, dice, and chips were much in evidence. In another issue the same paper gives a German reading from Shakspere in which it censures the Prince in much the same manner that Falstaff censured the wild Harry of Henry IV. The London cartoonists all had their slings with varying good nature.Funrepresented the Prince as the Prodigal Son being forgiven by the paternal British nation. Point to this cartoon was given by the fact that the pantomime "L'Enfant Prodigue" was being played at the time in the Prince of Wales' Theater. ThePall Mall Budgetshowed the Queen and the Heir Apparent enjoying a quiet evening over the card table at home. The Prince is saying: "Ah, well! I must give up baccarat and take to cribbage with mamma."
Christianity and the Bible in China.An exact copy of a Chinese native cartoon. Reproduced in the San Francisco "Wasp," Jan. 2, 1982.
Christianity and the Bible in China.
An exact copy of a Chinese native cartoon. Reproduced in the San Francisco "Wasp," Jan. 2, 1982.
Moonshine, in a cartoon entitled "Aren't they RatherOverdoing it?" took a kindlier and a more charitable view of the whole affair. His Royal Highness is explaining the matter to a most horrible looking British Pharisee. "Don't be too hard on me, Mr. Stiggins," he says. "I am not such a bad sort of a fellow, on the whole. You mustn't believe all that you read in the papers." The nature of the American caricature of the scandal may be understood from the cartoon which we reproduce fromPuck. This cartoon speaks for itself.
Japan—"Does it hurt up There?"From "Kladderadatsch."
Japan—"Does it hurt up There?"
From "Kladderadatsch."
Business at the Death-Bed—Uncle Sam as Undertaker.From "Kladderadatsch" (Berlin).
Business at the Death-Bed—Uncle Sam as Undertaker.
From "Kladderadatsch" (Berlin).
The Start for the China Cup.From "Moonshine" (London).
The Start for the China Cup.
From "Moonshine" (London).
The Emperor William and his chancellors inspiredLa Silhouette, of Paris, to a very felicitous cartoon entitled "William Bluebeard." William is warning Hohenlohe andpointing to a closet in which are hanging the bodies of Bismarck and Caprivi, robed in feminine apparel. "My first two wives are dead," says Bluebeard. "Take care, Hohenlohe, lest the same fate overtake you!"
The increase in European armament in 1892 suggested to Tenniel the idea of the cartoon "The Road to Ruin," which appeared November 5 of that year. It shows the figures of two armed horsemen, France and Germany, each burdened with armies of four million men, riding along "The Road to Ruin." Their steeds, weighed down by the burdens they bear, are faltering in their strides. A cartoon published shortly afterwards in the LondonFunshows the figure of Peace welcoming the emperors of Germany and Austria, and urging them hospitably to lay aside their sword-belts. "Thanks, Madam," rejoins Kaiser Wilhelm, "but we would rather retain them—in your behalf!"
Tableau.End of the Chinese-Japanese War.From Toronto "Grip."
Tableau.
End of the Chinese-Japanese War.
From Toronto "Grip."
The brief war between China and Japan was necessarily of a nature to suggest cartoons of infinite variety. It was the quick, aggressive bantam against a huge but unwieldy opponent, and one of the earliest cartoons inPunchutilizedthis idea in "The Corean Cock Fight." The big and clumsy Shanghai is warily watching his diminutive foe, while the Russian bear, contentedly squatting in the background, is saying softly to himself: "Hi! whichever wins, I see my way to a dinner." Every feature of Chinese life offered something to the caricaturists. For instance, in a cartoon entitled "The First Installment," LondonFunshows the Jap slashing off the Chinaman's pigtail. Now this idea of the pigtail in one form or another was carried through to the end of the war. For example the BerlinUlkoffers a simple solution of the whole controversy in a picture entitled "How the Northern Alexander Might Cut the Corean Knot." China and Japan, with their pigtails hopelessly tangled in a knot labeled "Corea," are tugging desperately in opposite directions, while Russia, knife in one hand and scissors in the other, is preparing to cut off both pigtails close to the heads of his two victims.
The Chinese Exclusion Act.From The San Francisco "Wasp."
The Chinese Exclusion Act.
From The San Francisco "Wasp."
The Great Republican Circus.This is considered by Mr. Opper as one of his most effective political cartoons.
The Great Republican Circus.
This is considered by Mr. Opper as one of his most effective political cartoons.
To the Rescue!
To the Rescue!
Punchcharacteristically represented the contending nationsas two boys engaged in a street fight, while the various powers of Europe are looking on. John Chinaman has obviously had very much the worst of the fray; his features are battered; he is on the ground, and bawling lustily, "Boo-hoo! he hurtee me welly much! No peacey man come stoppy him!" The end of the war was commemorated by TorontoGripin a tableau showing a huge Chinaman on his knees, while a little Jap is standing on top of the Chinaman's head toying with the defeated man's pigtail.Kladderadatsch, of Berlin, printed a very amusing and characteristic cartoon when the war was at an end: "Business at the death-bed—Uncle Sam as Undertaker." This pictorial skit alludes to the proposition from the United States that China pay her war indemnity to Japan in silver. It shows a stricken Chinaman tucked in a ludicrous bed and about to breathe his last. Uncle Sam, as an enterprising undertaker, has thrust his way in and insists on showing the dying man his handsome new style of coffin.
Mr. Gladstone in the Valley.
Mr. Gladstone in the Valley.
The Boulanger Excitement.The Noisy Boy in the European Lodging House.From "Judge."
The Boulanger Excitement.
The Noisy Boy in the European Lodging House.
From "Judge."
"Yes, Citizens, since the Disarmament This has been made into a Telescope. Fortunately it was not a Muzzle-loader, so they have been able to put a Lens at both Ends."A French cartoon aimed at the Peace Conference.
"Yes, Citizens, since the Disarmament This has been made into a Telescope. Fortunately it was not a Muzzle-loader, so they have been able to put a Lens at both Ends."
A French cartoon aimed at the Peace Conference.
A Fixture.
A Fixture.
A Group of modern French Caricaturists.
A Group of modern French Caricaturists.
Still another clever cartoon in which theKladderadatschsummed up the situation at the close of the war shows a mapof the eastern hemisphere, distorted into a likeness of a much-perturbed lady, the British Isles forming her coiffure, Europe her arms and body, and Asia the flowing drapery of her skirts. Japan, saw in hand, has just completed the amputation of one of her feet—Formosa—and has the other—Corea—half sawn off. "Does it hurt you up there?" he is asking, gazing up at the European portion of his victim. The same periodical a few months later forcibly called attention to the fact that while France and Russia were both profiting by the outcome of the war, Germany was likely to go away empty-handed. It is entitled "The Partition of the Earth: an Epilogue to the Chinese Loan." China, represented as a fat, overgrown mandarin, squatting comfortably on his throne, serene in the consciousness that his financial difficulties are adjusted for the time being, is explaining the situation to Prince Hohenlohe, who is waiting, basket in hand, for a share of the spoils. On one side Russia is bearing off a toy engine and train of cars, labeled "Manchuria," and on the other France is contentedly jingling the keys to a number of Chinese seaports. "The world has been given away," China is saying; "Kwangtung, Kwangsi,and Yünnan are no longer mine. But if you will live in my celestial kingdom you need not feel any embarrassment; your uselessness has charmed us immensely."
The Boulanger excitement, which so roused France until the bubble was effectually pricked by the lawyer Floquet's fencing sword, was satirized byJudgein a cartoon entitled "The Noisy Boy in the European Lodging House." The scene is a huge dormitory in which the various European powers have just settled down in their separate beds for a quiet night's rest when Boulanger, with a paper cap on his head, comes marching through, loudly beating a drum. In an instant all is turmoil. King Humbert of Italy is shown in the act of hurling his royal boot at the offending intruder. The Czar of Russia has opened his eyes and his features are distorted with wrath. Bismarck is shaking his iron fist. The Emperor of Austria is getting out of bed, apparently with the intention of inflicting dire punishment on the interrupter of his slumbers. Even the Sultan of Turkey, long accustomed to disturbances from all quarters, has joined in the popular outcry. The lodgers with one voice are shouting, "Drat that Boy! Why doesn't he let us have some rest?"
The old allegorical ideal of Christian passing through the dangers of the Valley of the Shadow of Death in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," which has been appearing in caricature every now and then since Gillray used it against Napoleon, was employed by Tenniel in a cartoon of Mr. Gladstone and Home Rule published inPunch, April 15, 1893. The old warrior, sword in hand, is making his way slowly along the narrow and perilous wall of Home Rule. On either side are the bogs of disaster, suggestive of his fate in case his foot should slip.
The Panama scandals in France and the ensuing revelationsof general political trickery suggested one of Sambourne's best cartoons, that depicting France descending into the maelstrom of corruption. This cartoon appeared in the beginning of 1893. It shows France in the figure of a woman going supinely over the rapids, to be hurled into the whirlpool below.
The Anglo-French War Barometer.Fashoda!!! Fashoda!!Fashoda!Fashoda.From "Kladderadatsch" (Berlin).
The Anglo-French War Barometer.
Fashoda!!! Fashoda!!Fashoda!Fashoda.
From "Kladderadatsch" (Berlin).
British feeling on the Fashoda affair was summed up by Tenniel in two cartoons which appeared in October and November, in 1898. The first of these called "Quit-ProQuo?" was marked by a vindictive bitterness which appeared rather out of place in thePunchof the last quarter of the century. But it must be remembered that for a brief time feeling ran very high in both countries over the affair. In this cartoon France is represented as an organ-grinder who persists in grinding out the obnoxious Fashoda tune to the intense annoyance of the British householder. The second cartoon represents the Sphinx with the head of John Bull. John Bull is grimly winking his left eye, to signify that he regards himself very much of a "fixture" in Egypt.
The dangerous condition in which the United States found itself about the time we began the building of our new and greater navy was depicted inJudgeby the cartoon entitled, "Rip Van Winkle Awakes at Last." It shows a white-bearded, white-haired Uncle Sam seated on a rock about which the tide is rapidly rising, looking round at the great modern armaments of England and France and Germany and Italy, and murmuring, as he thinks of his own antiquated wooden ships of war and brick forts, "Why, I'm twenty years behind the age." In his old hat, with the broken crown, are the feathers of Farragut, Perry, Paul Jones, and Lawrence, but these alone are not enough, nor will even the "Spirit of '76," which hovers over him in the shape of an eagle, quite suffice. He has his musket of 1812 and his muzzle-loading gun of 1864, but in the background are those huge cannon of European foes and above them is the gaunt, grim figure of a helmeted Death. A little more and it would have been too late. Now there is yet time. Rip Van Winkle awakes at last.
An interesting variant upon the old type of "Presidential Steeplechase" cartoons appeared inPuckduring the summer of 1892, after the Republican convention at Minneapolis and the Democratic convention at Chicago had respectively nominated Mr. Harrison and Mr. Cleveland. The cartoon is entitled "They're Off!" and is drawn with admirable spirit. The scene is a Roman amphitheater, and the twoPresidential candidates, in the guise of charioteers, are guiding their mettlesome steeds in a mad gallop around the arena. Mr. Cleveland's horses, "Tariff Reform" and "Economy," are running steadily, and seem to be slowly forging to the front, while those of Mr. Harrison, "High Protection" and "Force Bill," are not pulling well together, and with ears pointed forward, look as though they might at any moment become unmanageable.
Rip Van Winkle wakes at last.By Gillam in "Judge."
Rip Van Winkle wakes at last.
By Gillam in "Judge."
They're off!The Presidential race between Harrison and Cleveland in 1892.From "Puck."
They're off!
The Presidential race between Harrison and Cleveland in 1892.
From "Puck."
"Where am I at?"The famous redrawn cartoon which in its original form depicted Mr. Cleveland and the Democratic Party disastrously routed at the polls in 1892.By Gillam in "Judge."
"Where am I at?"
The famous redrawn cartoon which in its original form depicted Mr. Cleveland and the Democratic Party disastrously routed at the polls in 1892.
By Gillam in "Judge."
In connection with this campaign of 1892, there was no cartoon of more interest than that entitled "Where Am I At?" which Bernard Gillam drew forJudge, and this interestlies less in the cartoon itself than in the amusing story of its conception and execution. Right up to election day not only Gillam, but the entire staff ofJudge, were perfectly confident of Republican success at the polls. To them the election seemed to be a mere formality which had to be gone through with, in order that General Harrison might remain in the White House for four years more. So a conference was held, after which Mr. Gillam began work on the cartoon which was to commemorate the Republican victory. The idea used was that of a general smash-up, with Mr. Cleveland in the middle of thedébâcleand the Republican elephant marching triumphantly over the ruins. Along these lines a double-page cartoon was drawn with an immense variety of detail, reproduced, and made ready for the press. Election Day came around, and a few hours after the polls had been closed it became evident, to the consternation of Mr. Gillam and his associates, that instead of the expected Republican victory, Mr. Cleveland had swept the country by overwhelmingmajorities. What was to be done? It was too late to prepare another cartoon, so that the plate already made was taken from the press, and the cartoonist set to work. To the discomfited countenance of Mr. Cleveland Gillam attached a beard which transformed the face into a likeness to that of the defeated Republican candidate. A huge patch drawn over one of the eyes of the Republican elephant changed its appearance of elation to one of the most woe-begone depression. Other slight changes in the legends here and there throughout the picture transformed its nature to such an extent that only the most practiced eye could detect anything that was not wholly spontaneous and genuine. To cap it all, in a corner of the picture Gillam drew a likeness of himself in the form of a monkey turning an uncomfortable somersault. With a knowledge of these facts the reader by a close examination of this cartoon, which is reproduced in this volume, will undoubtedly detect the lines along which the lightning change was made. Nevertheless, it will be impossible for him to deny that the transformation was cleverly done.
The Political Columbus who will not land in 1892.By Gillam in "Judge."
The Political Columbus who will not land in 1892.
By Gillam in "Judge."
Besides being the year of the Presidential campaign, 1892 was a year when the thoughts of Americans were turned backward four centuries to the time when Christopher Columbus first landed on the shore of the Western Hemisphere. The original ships of Columbus's fleet were being brought over the water from Spain; the Columbus idea was being exploited everywhere in topical song and light opera; and it would have been strange indeed if it had failed to play some part in political caricature. Gillam inJudgemade use of it in the cartoon entitled "The Political Columbus Who Will NOT Land in '92." It represents the ship of the Democracy with Mr. Cleveland as Columbus gazing anxiously and uneasilyat the horizon. At the bow of the ship is the lion's head and the shield of Britannia, in allusion to Mr. Cleveland's alleged pro-English sympathies. The sail upon which the ship is relying for its progress is marked "Free Trade" and is a woefully patched and weather-beaten bit of canvas. The crew of the ship is a strange assortment which suggests all sorts of mutiny and piracy. In the front of the vessel and close behind the captain are Dana, Croker, Sheehan, and Hill. Beyond them we see the figures of Cochran, Carlisle, Crisp, Brice, and Mills and Flower. In the far aft are Blackburn and Gorman. Evidently crew and captain are animated by despair, although the gull, bearing the features of Mr. Pulitzer, of the New YorkWorld, that is circling around the ship, shows that land is not so many miles away. "I don't see land," cries Cleveland-Columbus. And the despairing crew, pointing to the Free Trade sail, calls back, "And you never will with that rotten canvas."
Map of the United States.
Map of the United States.
In contrast with the vindictive and malicious character ofthe cartoons which heralded Mr. Cleveland's first election, there was a marked absence of unpleasant personalities in those which belong to the period of his second term. There was no disposition, however, to spare him in regard to the growing difficulty he had in holding his party together or his assumption of what Republicans regarded as an entirely unwarranted degree of authority. This autocratic spirit was cleverly satirized by a cartoon inJudge, to which allusion has already been made. It consists simply of a map of the United States so drawn as to form a grotesque likeness of the President. He is bending low in an elaborate bow, in which mock-humility and glowing self-satisfaction are amusingly blended, his folded hands forming the Florida peninsula, his coat-tails projecting into lower California. Beneath is inscribed the following paraphrase:
My country, 'tis of ME,Sweet land of liberty,Of ME I sing!
Mr. Cleveland's troubles with his party began early in his second administration. As early as April we find him depicted byJudgeas the "Political Bull in the Democratic China-Shop." The bull has already had time to do a vast amount of havoc. The plate-glass window, commanding a view of the national capitol, is a wreck, and the floor is strewn with the remains of delicate cups and platters, amidst which may still be recognized fragments of the "Baltimore Machine," "Rewards for Workers," "Wishes of the Leaders," etc. An elaborate vase, marked "N. Y. Machine," and bearing a portrait of Senator Hill, is just toppling over, to add its fragments to the general wreckage.
Return of the Southern Flags.By Gillam in "Judge."
Return of the Southern Flags.
By Gillam in "Judge."
The Champion Masher of the Universe.By Gillam in "Judge."
The Champion Masher of the Universe.
By Gillam in "Judge."
The general depression of trade and the much-debated issue of tariff reform recur again and again in the caricaturesof the second Cleveland administration, especially after the Republican landslide of 1893. Thus, in December of that year, a significant cartoon inJudgerepresents the leading statesmen of each party engaged in a game of "National Football," the two goals being respectively marked "Protection" and "Free Trade." "Halfback" Hill is saying, "Brace up, Cap; we've got the ball," and Captain Grover, nursing a black eve, rejoins disconsolately, "That's all very well, boys, but they've scored against us, and we've got to put up the game of our lives to beat them." In January the same periodical published a pessimistic sketch, showing Uncle Sam, shivering with cold, and his hands plunged deep into his pockets, gloomily watching the mercury in the "Industrial Thermometer" sinking steadily lower from protection and plenty, through idleness, misery, and starvation, to the zero point of free trade. "Durn the Democratic weather, anyway," says Uncle Sam. A more hopeful view of the situation found expression inPuck, in a cartoon entitled "Relief at Hand." Labor, in the guise of an Alpine traveler, has fallen by the wayside, and lies half buried beneath the snows of the "McKinley Tariff." Help, however, has come, in the form of a St. Bernard, named "Wilson Tariff Bill," while Cleveland, in the guise of a monk, is hastening from the neighboring monastery, drawn in the semblance of the national capitol. Still another cartoon harping on the need of tariff reform represents McKinley and the other leading Republicans as "Ponce de Leon and His Followers," gathered around a pool labeled "High Protection Doctrine." "They think it is the fountain of political youth and strength, but it is only a stagnant pool that is almost dried up." Among the many caricatures in whichJudgesupported the opposite side, and heaped ridicule onthe Wilson Bill, one of the best shows Uncle Sam retiring for the night, and examining with disgust and wrath the meager crazy quilt (the Wilson Bill) with which he has been provided in lieu of blankets. "I'll freeze to death," he is grumbling, "and yet some of those idiots call this a protective measure."
The Harrison Platform.By Keppler in "Puck."
The Harrison Platform.
By Keppler in "Puck."
Mr. Cleveland's determination to return to the South the flags captured in the War of Secession, in the hopes of putting an end to sectional feeling, brought down upon his head the wrath of the more extreme Republican element, a wrathwhich was reflected strongly, editorially and pictorially, in the papers of the day. This suggested toJudgethe cartoon entitled "Halt," in which Mr. Cleveland, in the act of handing back the captured flags, is restrained by the spirit of Lincoln, which says, "Had you fought for those flags you would not be so quick to give them away!" To which Mr. Cleveland is made to reply, "Great Scott! I thought you were dead and forgotten long ago. I only meant to please Mr. Solid South. They're rubbish, anyhow." This is another cartoon from the hand of the prolific Gillam.
The movement for the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, which occurred in the spring of 1893, and which many Americans were inclined to regard with suspicion and disfavor, was commemorated in a great variety of cartoons, both in this country and abroad. It was only natural that a movement which owed its inception to a Republican administration, should receive the cordial approval and indorsement ofJudge. A cartoon, dated February 18, represents Columbia in the guise of an exemplary modern school-mistress, serenely holding in order her turbulent class of mingled Chinese, negroes, Indians, Italian organ-grinders, and Russian anarchists, while she gives a cordial welcome to the small, half-naked new scholar from the Pacific, who is timidly begging to be admitted. Canada, represented as a demure little maiden, stands just behind Hawaii, an interested spectator, apparently more than half inclined to follow his example. In much the same spirit was a design that appeared in theWasp, representing Uncle Sam in the character of St. Peter, holding the key to America's political paradise. "Poor little imp," he is saying to the Hawaiian applicant, "I don't see why I should shut you out, when I've let in all the tramps of the world already." Another cartoon which appeared inJudgewas entitled, "The Champion Masher of the Universe." This represents Hawaii under the form of a dusky but comely damsel, being borne off complacently by a gorgeously attired Uncle Sam, while his discomfited rivals are looking on in chagrin and disgust. These rivals are England, under the form of John Bull; France, shown under the features of President Sadi Carnot; Germany, the Emperor William; and Italy, King Humbert. This cartoon was drawn by Gillam.
The End of the Chilian Affair.From "Judge."
The End of the Chilian Affair.
From "Judge."
The TorontoGripsaw the matter in quite a different aspect. Hawaii, a badly frightened savage, is bound to a stake, while Uncle Sam, in the guise of a missionary, is whetting the knife of annexation, preparing to give him thecoup-de-grace, and at the same time waving off John Bull, who holds his knife, "Protectorate," with similar intent. "Hold up," says Hawaii, "didn't you say it was wrong to eat man?" and Uncle Sam rejoins benevolently, "Yes—but—well,circumstances alter cases, and the interests of civilization and commerce, you know —— You keep off, John; he's my meat." The suggestion that England was merely waiting for a good excuse to step in and take possession of Hawaii, while the American administration and Congress were trying to reach an understanding, was eagerly seized upon by other journals as well asGrip, especially in Germany. The BerlinUlkportrayed Queen Liliuokalani, armed with a broom, angrily sweeping Uncle Sam from his foothold in Honolulu, while John Bull, firmly established on two of the smaller islands, "laughs to his heart's content," so the legend runs, "but the Yankee is mad with rage." In similar spirit theKladderadatschdepicts John Bull and Uncle Sam as "Two Good Old Friends," trying to "balance their interests in the Pacific Ocean." With clasped hands the two rivals are see-sawing backwards and forwards, each striving to retain a precarious foothold, as they straddle the Pacific from Samoa to Hawaii, and each quite oblivious of the discomfort of the squirming little natives that they are crushing under heel.
The fiasco of Mr. Cleveland's attempt to restore Queen Liliuokalani to her throne was hit off inJudgeby a cartoon portraying him as Don Quixote, physically much the worse for wear, as a result of his latest tilt at the Hawaiian windmill. The knight's spirit, however, is unbroken, and he is receiving philosophically the well-meant consolation of Sancho Panza Gresham.