One of the cartoon-posters issued by the Democratic National Campaign
Committee in the fall of 1864 is given here. It had the legend, “Running
the Machine,” printed beneath; the “machine” was Secretary Chase’s
“Greenback Mill,” and the mill was turning out paper money by the
million to satisfy the demands of greedy contractors. “Uncle Abe” is
pictured as about to tell one of his funny stories, of which the scene
“reminds” him; Secretary of War Stanton is receiving a message from the
front, describing a great victory, in which one prisoner and one gun
were taken; Secretary of State Seward is handing an order to a messenger
for the arrest of a man who had called him a “humbug,” the habeas corpus
being suspended throughout the Union at that period; Secretary of
the Navy Welles--the long-haired, long-bearded man at the head of
the table--is figuring out a naval problem; at the side of the table,
opposite “Uncle Abe,” are seated two Government contractors, shouting
for “more greenbacks,” and at the extreme left is Secretary of the
Treasury Fessenden (who succeeded Chase when the latter was made Chief
Justice of the United States Supreme Court), who complains that he
cannot satisfy the greed of the contractors for “more greenbacks,”
although he is grinding away at the mill day and night.