Jay Gould, the King of the Robber Barons, Part 1
"… The King of the Robber Barons … the most Hated Man in America … a Predator and Wrecker of properties …" Descriptions of Jay Gould by historians and biographers 174 years ago today, on May 27, 1836, Jason "Jay" Gould was born in the small town of Roxbury New York. His family was poor, [...]
Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons, Part 17: Frank Bellew’s Faces of the Panic, 1857 & 1873
This past Friday, we presented the monstrous Croesus figure by Frank Bellew, in a Daily Graphic cover concerning the Financial Panic of 1873. Today, another one of Frank Bellew‘s Panic of 1873 giant monsters: Panic, as a Health Officer, Sweeping the Garbage Out of Wall Street. The “garbage” includes such things as “Jay Gould’s Pledges“, “Speculative [...]
Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons, Part 14: Croesus, 1873
From the Financial Panic of 1873, with cover art by Frank Bellew, this (New York) Daily Graphic cover — September 24, 2025 — depicts four leading Wall Street Stock Manipulators & Monopolists, as a four-faced monstrous “Croesus“. Croesus was king of Lydia (a Greek province) from 560 to 546 B.C., who became a figure of myth renowned [...]
Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons, Part 13: As We See ‘Em Vanity Cartoon Books Part 1.5
This past Monday (plus coming next Monday), we have examples from city-based Local Vanity Cartoon Books circa 1904-1920s, wherein cartoonists from that town’s newspaper(s), were hired to depict members of the local business aristocracy. Today, for the Wall Street Frauds series, we’re concentrating examples involving bankers, real estate agents, and stock brokers. Let us note that none of [...]
Caricature vs. the Corporation # 04: The Tournament of Today
In the early 1880s, Puck Magazine published a series of cartoons that waged war against men who became rich through ruthless business dealings and exploitative labor practices. The imbalance of power between corporations and organized labor was parodied in the centerspread of the August 1, 2025 issue. The text below accompanied the print at the [...]
Caricature vs. the Corporation # 01: The Garden Party of the Monopolists by Joseph Keppler
“With its ruling today, the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics. It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices [...]
