The methods used by women suffragettes, working to gain their right to vote, varied amongst the different movements. In the U.S., the women’s movement used mostly peaceful protest, while in Britain, part of their movement was becoming increasingly militant. They threw bricks, smashed windows, engaged in arson, and even bombed public buildings. Emeline Pankhurst was a leader of this militant approach.

In October & November 1913, just recently released from prison, Pankhurst visited the U.S. for a speaking tour. While British authorities were more than happy to see her going, there was a debate in the U.S. prior to her arrival, on whether she should even be allowed entrance. Their fear was that Pankhurst would persuade U.S. suffragettes to take up the more violent approach of their British counterparts.

Today’s post presents Cartoons Magazine‘s coverage of what was labeled as “Pankhursteria”, surrounding her U.S. tour. First, we have the five pages on Pankhurst, from Cartoons Magazine‘s November 1913 issue. Cartoons accompanying this issue’s article, were taken from Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling (above), W.A. Ireland (below left), and Nelson Harding (below right).

Click on the above & below pages, to see the cartoons in fuller detail, and be able to read the text.

Above, the last two pages from the November 1913 issue, including art by Guy Spencer and E.A. Bushnell.

Beneath, the opening pair of pages of December 1913‘s Cartoons Magazine article, with a full page cartoon by Daniel Fitzpatrick, at right.

Additional cartoons: above, by Robert Satterfield and Winner; below, by Billy Ireland and Ole May.

Click on Women’s History to view prior postings of that subject.

Doug Wheeler

Women’s History Billy Ireland

Those following SuperITCH last year, may recall our reprinting of cartoons from the 1912 Presidential Election, covering what is still the most significant splintering of the Republican Party. Republican Party bosses — at a time when most state primaries were mere window dressing (party hacks chose which candidates ran in the final election, not the voters) — decided to stick with their incumbent President, Republican William Howard Taft, while the majority of Republican voters wanted former President, Teddy Roosevelt. When Taft was selected at the Republican Convention that year, T.R. and his delegates walked out of the convention, forming their own political party — the Progressive Party (more commonly known as the Bull Moose Party).

The Republicans in rebellion were centrist reformers. Their exodus left the G.O.P. with mostly die-hard Conservatives. Supported by that faction alone, the Republican Party ended 1912 elections in a dismal third place. The new Bull Moose Party coming in second, did not fare well afterwards, either, as it was built largely around the popularity of one man.

Since the conclusion of the 2012/1912 elections, I’ve shown few political cartoons, because truthfully, even I was sick & exhausted of them! After the end of the 1912 election, however, the G.O.P. split did not suddenly vanished, with both sides happily reuniting. The animosity between the Progressive Party and staid Republicans still filled the air. Bull Moose candidates had won seats in Congress. Throughout 1913, cartoons depicting disdain for the G.O.P. by those who’d walked out, and the failed efforts to reunite the two, continued. I didn’t seen a legitimate context to today, for showing these. But, with these past several weeks of the Republicans’ extreme right-wing holding the nation’s laws & economy hostage (again!), to attempt to gain via blackmail what they failed to win by the ballot box, I now do find these past examples of fratricidal conflict within the G.O.P., worthy of running.

The scans shown here, are ones I’d already completed, before deciding I couldn’t use them. Should Republicans extend their attempted extortion beyond this Thursday, then I’ll starting scanning the cartoons on the G.O.P. Split from 1913, that I had skipped.

Above, the “Munsey Plan” — an attempt to bring together the two parties — depicted by John Scott Clubb and William Kemp Starrett. Beneath, by Charles Henry Sykes, sign posts pointing towards opposite camps (with footprints in the snow showing how some — post-election — switched back). All are from the February 1913 issue of Cartoons Magazine.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and better read their captions.

Above, also from February 1913, T.R. rejecting the Munsey Plan, by Harold Heaton.

Three months later — from the May 1913 issue — publisher and major financial backer of Teddy Roosevelt & the Bull Moose Party, Frank A. Munsey, was still attempting to bring the parties together. Art by Tom May, Coleman F. Naughton, and W.A. Ireland.

Doug Wheeler

Billy Ireland

Though, to be fair, despite the appearances of some, none of today’s elephants were alive in 1888 —

- Above, from the front cover of the October 3rd, 1888 edition of Puck magazine, artist Joseph Keppler, Sr. depicts the efforts of Republican Congressmen to dig a trap for Democratic President Grover Cleveland…

Need more be said?…

Click on the above & picture, to view the cartoon in greater detail, including the labels on the various congress members and their tools.

Doug Wheeler

KepplerSr NYPuck

A week-and-a-half ago, after much debate, the U.S. Senate passed an Immigration Reform Bill which is pleasing to no one. This week, the House of Representatives — controlled by Republicans not, many of whom are opposed to the legislation, partially because it would bring in as voting citizens, mostly individuals who likely will not vote for them…

The timing thus seems right, to look a century back to 1913, when West Coast states (most notably California) and their elected officials, were engaged in openly race-based legislation to attempt to bar Japanese from immigrating to the U.S. …

Robert Minor, Jr., above, depicts the hypocrisy of Uncle Sam’s Immigration Wall — from the June 1913 edition of Cartoons Magazine.

Beneath, “None So Blind”, from the July 1913 issue, by Oscar Cesare.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and read their captions.

These two sets of pages are from the June 1913 article , “California and the Japanese”. Art above by John T. McCutcheon and W.A. Rogers; below by Guy Spencer, Cy Hungerford, and W.A. Ireland.

Concluding “California and the Japanese”, above, we have art above by Tige Reynolds, Ole May, and Elmer Donnell.

All of the beneath pages, are the July 1913 Cartoons Magazine article, “The Japanese Situation”, with art in the first below page by Hungerford (again), and J.E. Whiting.

The article “The Japanese Situation” continues, with art by Howe, Hunter, and Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling (above); and Billy Ireland and John Scott Clubb (below).

Finally, in the concluding pages of the July 1913 article, we have art below by Spencer, Biggers, and Paul A. Plaschke.

Doug Wheeler

For this year’s Cinco de Mayo, we have a number of cartoons that appeared in first half of 1913, in various newspapers, and from there were reprinted in Cartoons Magazine.

In the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920, February & March 1913 were particularly volatile. The occupants of the National Palace changed hands several times, inspiring the James H. Donahey cartoon that appeared below, on the front cover of the April 1913 edition of Cartoons Magazine.

Above, the May 1913 issue reprints cartoonist Ole May‘s prediction of the end of President Franciso Madero.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and read the text.

The U.S. had supported dictator Porfirio Diaz, whome Madero had overthrown. The above cartoon by Harry J. Westerman, suggests a return to power by Diaz.

U.S. cartoons in general — such as the one by Charles “Doc” Winner below — reflected the racist attitude of white America, which viewed all of Latin America as inferior, requiring their Uncle Sam to tell them how to behave.

Above, and in the three double-page scans that follow, we have the article “Cartoons and Cartoonists of Mexico”, written by Harry H. Dunn, formerly the news editor of the publications La Prensa, and The Daily Mexican.

Dunn’s opening paragraph about Mexican cartooning having died with the destruction of the Aztec Empire by Spanish Conquistadors (implying that their codices were merely cartoons, rather than the written language that they were), and that Mexican cartoons do not begin again until 1910, is pure hogwash (in addition to being off by at least a century — click here to view a Mexican comic book from 1801.)

However, in his description of the then-“current” situation in Mexico, and of four of its then-prominent cartoonists — S.R. de la Vega, Telas Allendez, L.R. Noriega, and F. Ariza — the article is worth reading. So long as you also keep in mind that Dunn himself, was not Mexican, anymore than Mitt Romney’s ancestors, who lived in Mexico in flight from U.S. Law, were. Dunn’s article, thus, also carries a U.S. point-of-view.

Above & below — all from April 1913 — more U.S. cartoons concerning the Mexican Revolution, including several with patronizing attitude on full display.

Above, cartoons by Lynch, James E. Murphy, and Taylor.

Cartoons above, by Nelson Harding, Bronstrup, Shonkwiler, Barnett, and Donahey, Shonkwiler & Barnett (not incorrectly, and not for their first time) suggesting that the (at thi spoint) oft-threatened U.S. intervention in the Mexican Civil War, was motivated more by protecting the investments of U.S. millionaires, than by protecting anyone or anything else.

Below, by Ben Franklin Hammond, Charles Henry Sykes, W.A. Ireland, James H. Donahey, and Robert Minor, Jr..

Doug Wheeler

Billy Ireland Focus on Cartoonists

As this year’s Women’s History Month coverage approaches its end, we have one more round of Women’s Suffrage cartoons from 1913 issues of Cartoons Magazine.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and better read the words within them.

Above, from the May 1913 issue, artist Carey Orr depicts the argument of corrupt politicians who like things the way that they (were).

Below, from April 1913, cartoons by Billy DeBeck and Walker O’Loughlin.

From March 1913, above, cartoons by Terry Gilkison and Robert Satterfield.

Beneath from February 1913, cartoons from William Kemp Starrett, DeBeck, Herbert H. Perry, and H.T. Webster.

Doug Wheeler

Women’s History

Although I’ve been unable to find a specific incident sparking the above cartoon by Robert Minor, Jr. (scanned from the February 1913 issue of Cartoons Magazine), I imagine it possibly referencing a specific lecturer, known to readers of the time. The women depicted listening, are drawn possessing the strength of Suffragettes, fully capable of beating the crap of the diminutive, bald, bespectacled (all cues signalling weakness) speaker.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and better read the words within them.

Below, on the front cover of the November 9th, 1861 issue of Vanity Fair, cartoonist Henry Louis Stephens parodies, during the American Civil War the idea of an all female battalion.

Click here to see previous Women’s History Month postings.

Doug Wheeler

Women’s History

Wage Inequity between the sexes — still an issue being fought today — has likely been with us since the invention of money, though it is eye-brow raising to see that a century ago, when most women had yet to achieve even the right to vote, and when most men were receiving barely a subsistence wage from their robber baron employers, that side-by-side with those, exploitation of women in the workplace was being given attention. As seen in cartoons reprinted in issues of Cartoons Magazine, a major argument being used at that time, was how factory work paid so much less than sex-work, that women were being driven towards prostitution to provide for themselves and their families.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and better read the words within them.

Above, from March 1913, cartoonists Burt Thomas and William Charles Morris, on striking women garment industry workers.

Below — from May 1913 — Robert Minor, Jr. and Will Dyson, on how poor wages encourages prostitution.

From February 1913 above, we have Barnett and William Charles Morris striking the same theme.

While Robert Minor, Jr. below (from the February 1913 issue as well), shows another reason “Why Women Want to Vote”…

You can find previous Women’s History Month postings, by clicking here.

Doug Wheeler

Women’s History Financial Reforms Wall Street Frauds

From the February 1913 (above) and April 1913 (below) issues of Cartoons Magazine, Canadian male cartoonists Arthur G. Racey and Hunter chide American Suffragettes to leave Canadian women out of the struggle for equal rights, as they are happy without them… (Again, according to two male cartoonists.)

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and better read the words within them.

To find prior Women’s History Month postings, click here.

Doug Wheeler

Women’s History

For today’s Women’s History Month posting, we present My Wife Turned Bloomer, a rare fold-out comic strip book by British comic artist Watts Phillips, published likely no earlier than 1850, and definitely no later than 1852. The term “bloomer” refers both to a style of women’s pants, and to the women who wore them, as women wearing pants was a radical political statement, by those women who strove for equal rights with men!

This short little booklet by Phillips, manages to pack in just about every joke on the subject, with Mr. Peregrine Perkes coming home after a few weeks absence, to find the entire household (including the dog!) wearing bloomers, women smoking tobacco in every panel, his wife — under the influence of a militant American Womans Righter — taken over his library/den, women learning martial arts, driving carriages, giving political speeches, and subjugating the men to perform what had been their chores! All of it perfectly horrible to any British (or American) male!

Later this month we’ll see some of these same jokes, still in vogue fifty years later in the 1890s! And, I’ll note, many of them were still being made during the Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1970s! (Example, in the weekly “Sonny & Cher” variety show, whose most popular ongoing sketch involved Sonny as the househusband and Cher as the family wage earner.)

Enjoy!

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and read the captions beneath them.

Doug Wheeler