Political Cartoons in the Industrial Age Why use Political Cartoons?

Political Cartoons in the Industrial Age Rather than writing and publishing articles, newspapers in the late 19th century often chose to produce cartoons because many immigrants were illiterate. Immigrants were the primary audience for the cartoon. “Pictures speak a thousand words”.

Bosses of the Senate

Bosses of the Senate Gross power of industrial lobbies over the Senate. Industrialists were learning to win their monetary games through the submissive hands of government, During this era, much of industry's success was created by forming coalitions to protect themselves from price fluctuations (as competition favored decreasing prices), Many industries formed internal alliances to coordinate prices and resource allocations. This is how monopolies formed, but the wider public was left behind. Senators, shown here as small but happy, were inclined to play puppets for the fat money sacks of business Perception that Congress was subject to the will of the money sacks of trust more than it was to the voice of the people. Capital had become the new capitol

What a funny little government.

What a funny little government John D. Rockefeller, shown in the cartoon, was the famous oil magnate who created a powerful monopoly on the US oil industry in less than 20 years. By 1899, the Standard Oil Trust had already been formed, which allowed Rockefeller to control his monopoly completely with this, so to speak, “corporation of corporations”: the heads of each oil refinery corporation within the country, including Rockefeller himself, formed the Board of Trustees, which set equal prices, as well as production levels, for each “branch” of the board. In this illustration, Rockefeller is examining the White House and Treasury in his hand; in the background, the State Capitol building is portrayed as a giant oil refinery. The cartoon’s main motif is that big business (specifically big oil) had become extremely prevalent in late 19th century America, and it had grown so large that the government was unable to control it.

Hopelessly bound to the stake

Hopelessly bound to the stake Depicts a working class man being burned at the stake by fire projected from the mouths of several men. This cartoon was created to illustrate the suffering of the working class as well as their inability to escape the overwhelming control of monopolies. By 1883, the railroad monopoly, among others, was well established thus Americans were becoming increasingly aware of the negative impacts of monopolies on the lives of working men. Monopolies fueled the "fire" that harmed the working class due to the fact that monopolies inherently eliminated the possibility of the survival of certain small businesses. Monopolies also negatively affected the working class by placing the ability to control the living conditions and welfare of perhaps hundreds of thousands of people in the hands of a small elite group who, in some cases, were more concerned with personal profit than employee well-being.

Puck Magazine

Puck Magazine Depicts William Henry Vanderbilt, a successful American businessman who was in charge of New York Central and Hudson River Railroad; Jason “Jay” Gould, who was a leading railroad developer; Cyrus West Field, who led the Atlantic Telegraph Company; and Russell Sage, who held stock in the railroad industry and also was president of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway. All these successful men were affiliated with the railroad industry. This political cartoon depicts them as dividing up the country which portrays them in a negative way as it implies their immense power over the industry. It was the portrayal of their power as they are shown dividing up the entire country.

The Standard Oil Octupus

The Standard Oil Octopus This new class of wealthy industrialists truly believed in the all-American image of opportunity for the common man and social Darwinism, that is, survival of the fittest. The octopus’ head is representative of the central trust of the Standard Oil Company, composed of a board of trustees headed by Rockefeller. The tentacles represent the way that the trust controlled every aspect of every branch of the Standard Oil Company, across the entire nation. Cartoons such as these led to the widespread distrust of industrialist methods, as the tentacles surrounding the governmental buildings indicate Rockefeller’s use of bribery to influence Congressmen and other officials to prevent the passing of anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws. Once such cartoonists revealed to Americans this ultimate corruption in the governmental system, the ruthlessness of industrialists such as Rockefeller became painfully clear and they became an enemy of the public, constantly portrayed in a negative light, causing Americans to have mistrust in corporate systems as a whole.

A trustworthy beast

A trustworthy beast This cartoon was drawn at a time when large trusts were creating monopolies on industry, bringing large amounts of power to a few individuals- one of these individuals being Andrew Carnegie. He believed in the benefits of business consolidation and he had become a large business leader himself. In this cartoon, the popular character of Uncle Sam is used to represent America and a demonic beast is used to represent trusts and big business. Andrew Carnegie appears to be calmly explaining to Uncle Sam the harmlessness of trusts. Rogers’ contrast between Carnegie’s calm demeanor and the obviously harmful nature of the beast demonstrate that he believes that the domination of the economy by trusts is harmful to American society. His use of irony reveals his overall message: that trusts are a danger to the well-being of the United States and that Carnegie is not a person to be trusted when it comes to his ideas on industry. This cartoon largely appeals to those who supported the anti-trust laws and were against the restriction of trade that came with big business. It would also appeal to laborers who might have felt abused by these business practices. It would obviously not be supported by those who benefited from trusts such as big business leaders and the CEO’s of large companies. This material is significant in that it addressed one of the most important economic and political debates of the Gilded Age and it had the potential to undermine the status of big business leaders by encouraging the government to limit their power.