Click here for yesterday’s post: Walt Kelly’s 1960 Christmas Cards

1961 Christmas Card by Walt Kelly
Front
5 1/4" w x 4" h

1961 Christmas Card by Walt Kelly
Inside
8 1/4" w x 2 1/2" h

Walt Kelly was creating Christmas Comics years before Pogo was syndicated. Some of his best stories are included in The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories, available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other fine comic shops and bookstores. This handsome edition keeps the tradition of Christmas comics alive with a warm-hearted collection of classics from the 1940s and 50s by Kelly and many other artists.

Click here for BookSteve’s review!

More Tomorrow …

1960 Christmas Card by Walt Kelly
Front

5 1/2"" w x 4 1/4" h

1960 Christmas Card by Walt Kelly
Inside
8 1/4"" w x 2 1/4" h

Walt Kelly was creating Christmas Comics years before Pogo was syndicated. Some of his best stories are included in The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories, available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other fine comic shops and bookstores. This handsome edition keeps the tradition of Christmas comics alive with a warm-hearted collection of classics from the 1940s and 50s by Kelly and many other artists.

Click here for BookSteve’s review!

More Tomorrow …

Happy Holidays to all of the I.T.C.H. bloggers and readers!

Walt Kelly celebrated Christmas throughout the 1950s and 60s with a wonderful series of Christmas cards that reproduced his annual Christmas strip with a splash of color. The cards were printed on deckle-edged, letter-size sheets and folded in quarters to fit in envelopes for mailing.

1954

1954 Christmas Card by Walt Kelly
Front
5 1/2"" w x 4 1/4" h

1954 Christmas Card by Walt Kelly
Inside
8 1/4"" w x 2 1/4" h

Details of 1954 Christmas Card

1956

Pogo Christmas Day Comic Strip by Walt Kelly
December 25, 1956
7" w x 2" h

1956 Christmas Card by Walt Kelly
Front
5 1/4" w x 4" h

1956 Christmas Card by Walt Kelly
Inside
8 1/4" w x 2 1/2" h

Walt Kelly was creating Christmas Comics years before Pogo was syndicated. Some of his best stories are included in The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories, available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other fine comic shops and bookstores. This handsome edition keeps the tradition of Christmas comics alive with a warm-hearted collection of classics from the 1940s and 50s by Kelly and many other artists.

Click here for BookSteve’s review!

More Tomorrow …

In 1900, New York Journal political cartoonist Homer Davenport published a collection of his work titled The Dollar or the Man? The Issue of To Day. The cartoons focused on themes of government corruption and the threat that corporate power posed to America. Davenport’s cartoons mark the beginning of the Progressive Era, a time when many believed that corporations sought to overthrow the government.

"As They Go to the Polls" shows Republican political operative Mark Hanna with his arm wrapped around a giant Trust figure, which represents the monopolistic corporations of the time. The Trust holds the tiny hand of Republican Presidential candidate William McKinley. McKinley won re-election in 1900, primarily due to the support of big business. Hanna, the Trust, and McKinley stroll towards a ballot box.

As They Go to the Polls by Homer Davenport
Plate XXXV from The Dollar or the Man, the Issue of To Day, 1900
Originally published in the New York Journal newspaper
7 1/2 "w x 10 1/4 "h

A decade after The Dollar or the Man? was published, Puck magazine was still fighting big business and government corruption. The cover of the April 21, 1909 issue featured a cartoon by Udo Keppler, the son of Puck founder Joseph Keppler, that satirically illustrated how "protected interests" pressured Congress and forced the cost of living to rise. Inside the issue, editor Arthur Hamilton Folwell described a speech that Republican Speaker of the House "Uncle Joe" Cannon delivered to protect the interests of Standard Oil:

Why It Goes Up by Udo Keppler
Puck Magazine Cover, April 21, 1909

Chromolithograph, 10 "w x 14 "h

American History is filled with instances of sublime oratory. There is Patrick Henry’s impassioned outburst in the Virginia House of Burgesses. There are the fiery utterances of Samuel Adams in Faneuil Hall, Webster’s reply to Hayne, the weighty words of Calhoun and Clay, the burning speeches of the anti-slavery orators. Our annals offer a succession of brilliant and brainy efforts. Nor did American oratory, which had its beginning in the days of the powdered wig, have its ending in the days fo the black stock and ruffed shirt.

American oratory is not dead. Sublime utterances still ring out in our legislative halls, and what utterance more sublime than the Hon. Joe Cannon’s flashing-eyed plea for a duty on oil in the Payne bill? It is over now, but it will never be forgotten. A principle was involved: the principle of looking after the interests of one’s friends, and by that principle Cannon stood; boldly, ably, and right in the open. He did not champion the cause of Standard Oil behind locked doors, in committee. He spoke out loud where everyone could hear him.

It was not so much what he said, but the fact that HE said it, which counted. And now that no less a person than the Seaker has set the precedent, would it not be well, would it not sharpen the nation’s interest in what our modern Websters and Clays have to say, if each man as he rose from his seat could be recognized by the Chair thus wise: "The gentleman from the sugar trust has the floor," or "Does the Senator from the Land Graft Interests and Timber Thieves accept the amendment of the Senator from Wall Street?"

In his bluff and hearty way Speaker Cannon has set the fashion for a new and snappy line of Congressional oratory. When John Hancock placed his famous signature on the Declaration of Independence he exclaimed: "There! King George may read my name without spectacles!" If they follow Cannon’s lead, and are equally frank, it will be possible to know where certain Congressmen and Senators stand without the aid of ear-trumpets, X-ray machines, stethoscopes, or diamond drills."

A.H. Folwell , from "What Fools These Mortals Be " at the front of the issue

100 years after Folwell wrote those words, corporate influence resulted in the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United ruling. The floodgates of corporate funding in political elections were opened, making corporate control of the government a critical factor in today’s mid-term elections. Total campaign spending is expected to reach $4 billion. Corporate money favors Republican candidates 11-to-1.

In Congress, the Gentlemen of the Oil Trust are alive and well, as we saw last summer when Republican Representative Joe Barton publicly apologized to BP’s CEO when the Obama administration had BP establish a $20 billion fund to cover damages caused by BP’s catastrophic oil spill. Republican Tea Party candidate Rand Paul expressed similar sympathy for the mulit-national British corporation. He called the Obama administration un-American and said that "accidents happen." Republican Minority Leader John Boehner suggested that the federal government (i.e. taxpayers) should share the costs of the cleanup. Boehner, who will become Leader of the House if the Republicans win the majority today, received over a quarter million dollars in donations from the oil industry.

The Republican Tea Party candidates have announced that if elected to a majority, as the polls and political pundits forecast, we can look forward to more gridlock in Congress, a potential government shutdown, taxpayer-funded investigations (the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Monica Lewinsky scandal), a rollback of healthcare and the privatization of public services. We can also expect more oil wars, continued high unemployment (because it means cheap labor) and a new era of corporate governance.

But it’s not over yet. Low voter turnouts tend to favor Republicans (apathy and ignorance work in their favor). Strong voter turnouts favor Democrats. Get out and vote!

Detail

In 1900, New York Journal political cartoonist Homer Davenport published a collection of his work titled The Dollar or the Man? The Issue of To Day. The cartoons focused on themes of government corruption and the threat that corporate power posed to America. These themes are with us today and will influence many of the votes cast in tomorrow’s mid-term elections.

Davenport’s cartoons mark the beginning of the Progressive Era, a time when many believed that corporations sought to overthrow the government.

In the Shadow of Danger by Homer Davenport
Plate LII from The Dollar or the Man, the Issue of To Day, 1900
Originally published in the New York Journal newspaper
7 1/2 "w x 10 1/4 "h

At this point in the series, the Trust figure was well known. A simple image of its shadow cast over Uncle Sam was enough to convey the threat that monopolistic corporations posed to America .

Click here to read the previous post in this series

Ladies and gentlemen: Stick to the trusts. They’re your only true friends.
Don’t you see how happy they’ve made you? by Homer Davenport
Plate XLIII from The Dollar or the Man, the Issue of To Day, 1900
Originally published in the New York Journal newspaper
7 1/2 "w x 10 1/4 "h

In the cartoon above, Davenport shows Republican operative Mark Hanna as the protector of the trusts. He pontificates on their altruistic benevolence as one of the trusts crouches in hiding, club in hand..

Detail of
Ladies and gentlemen: Stick to the trusts. They’re your only true friends.
Don’t you see how happy they’ve made you? by Homer Davenport

The screen is decorated with a cornucopia, a traditional symbol of prosperity, but in place of the customary fruit, flowers and grain, coins spill out. In folklore, the cornucopia was filled with whatever the owner desired. In this cartoon, it is placed on a device of concealment shared by Hanna and the Trust.

Detail of
Ladies and gentlemen: Stick to the trusts. They’re your only true friends.
Don’t you see how happy they’ve made you? by Homer Davenport

The overweight Hanna addresses an emaciated crowd with threadbare clothes as a vision of death hovers above them.

Click here for the previous post in this series  |  Click here to read the next post in this series

The Threat Before the Fight. The Forces of the Opposition by Homer Davenport
Plate VI from The Dollar or the Man, the Issue of To Day, 1900
Originally published in the New York Journal newspaper
7 1/2 "w x 10 1/4 "h

In "The Threat Before the Fight," Davenport shows Uncle Sam standing with a clenched fist. An elderly man, a woman with a baby, and a young boy rolling up his sleeves stand in the crowd behind him. They wear the tattered clothes of the "plain people" that Davenport references in his dedication at the front of the book.

Detail of
The Threat Before the Fight. The Forces of the Opposition by Homer Davenport

On the opposite side stands Repulbican political operative Mark Hanna in his dollar-sign suit and diamond tie pin. In his right hand he holds a whip. Behind him is a menacing row of large Trust figures. Tattooed on their chests are the monopolistic corporations they represent: Standard Oil Trust, Sugar Trust, Coal Trust, etc.

Detail of
The Threat Before the Fight. The Forces of the Opposition by Homer Davenport

Click here for the previous post in this series  |  Click here to read the next post in this series

With less than a week to go before the 2010 mid-term elections, Republican Tea Party candidates are riding a wave of voter anger to successfully challenge political incumbents. The Tea Partiers dodge the media and offer sketchy details on what they will do if elected. They struggle to distance themselves from their previous public statements that support the privatization of Social Security, the elimination of Unions and the Federal minimum wage, as well as cutbacks in public education.

The success of their campaigns can be largely attributed to the support of the conservative media and anonymous unlimited corporate donations made possible by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling. The Tea Partiers’ small-government, pro-business agenda has become a useful tool of corporations attempting to protect record-breaking profits by opposing the possibility of government initiatives that could reduce or eliminate tax breaks, job outsourcing and predatory business practices. The Citizens United ruling made it legal for corporations to effectively purchase positions in the government by financing candidates willing to follow a corporate agenda. Using divisive, deceptive, fear-based and authoritarian political tactics, they threaten to turn back the clock to an earlier time like the late 1800s, when unfettered capitalism played a similar role in government elections.

In the 1890s, Homer Davenport was one of the most famous (and highly paid) political cartoonists in America. He covered the presidential elections of 1896 and 1900 for William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal.

Homer Davenport
c. 1902

A collection of his work titled The Dollar or the Man? The Issue of To Day was published in 1900. It includes 54 large reproductions of cartoons that originally appeared in the Journal . Their subject matter was government corruption and the abuse of corporate power.

The Dollar or the Man? The Issue of To Day by Homer Davenport
Small, Maynard & Co., Boston
1900, 134 pgs; 66 plates, approx. 7 1/2 "w x 10 1/4 "h

Davenport created the Trust Figure to represent the monopolistic corporations of his time. The coal trust, sugar trust and meat trust were all depicted as bearded, hulking brutes that clubbed their competition and critics into submission.

"Gentlemen, let me introduce my friend" by Homer Davenport

Plate XLIV from The Dollar or the Man, the Issue of To Day, 1900
7 1/2 "w x 10 1/4 "h

During the 1896 election, Davenport connected the Trust figures to Mark Hanna, a wealthy Ohio industrialist and shipping magnate who became chairman of the National Republican Committee. Davenport caricatured Hanna in a suit covered with dollar signs as a reference to the formidable fundraising skills that had earned Hanna the nickname, "Dollar Mark."

As the campaign manager for Presidential candidate William McKinley, Hanna systemized fundraising from big business. He visited the leaders of large corporations and major banks who feared the populist rhetoric or McKinley’s opponent: William Jennings Bryan. Bryan represented the Populist Party which advocated public ownership of the railroads, steamship lines and telephone and telegraph systems.Hanna raised a record $3.5 million for the campaign – roughly $3 billion in today’s dollars. The Republicans spent five times more money than the Democrats in the 1896 campaign.

McKinley won the election and a second term in 1900. He protected the interests of big business and did little to alleviate the social problems caused by industrialization. By 1901, McKinley no longer supported the growth of big business. He recognized that trusts and monopolies hurt competition and kept prices high for the consumer. In September of 1901 McKinley was assassinated by a man who reportedly confessed: "I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people – the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime."

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David Donihue, GreatCaricatures.com | Tea Party | Trusts