THE AMERICAN POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS OF 1880 AND 1884
Probably no cartoon dealing with the Garfield-Hancock campaign of 1880
was more widely discussed than that called "Forbidding the Banns,"
drawn for _Puck_ by Keppler. It was a cartoon which an American comic
paper would publish to-day only after considerable hesitation, for
there was in it the spirit of a less delicate age, a coarseness which
was pardonable only when the genuine strength and humor of the
complete work are taken into consideration. "Forbidding the Banns"
shows a political wedding party at the altar with Uncle Sam as the
reluctant and uncomfortable groom, General Garfield as the eager
bride, and the figure of the ballot box as the officiating clergyman.
The bridesmaids are Mr. Whitelaw Reid and Carl Schurz, with Murat
Halstead bringing up the rear. The ceremony is well along and the
contracting parties are about to be united when W. H. Barnum, the
chairman of the Democratic National Committee, rushes in shouting, "I
forbid the banns!" and waving frantically the figure of a little baby
marked "Credit Mobilier." The faces of all the bridal party show
consternation at the unexpected interruption, while the bride protests
coyly: "But it was such a little one."
[Illustration: "Forbidding the Banns." A Famous Cartoon of the
Garfield-Hancock Campaign.
_By courtesy of the Puck Company._]
The defeat of General Hancock in 1880 was commemorated by Keppler in
_Puck_ with the cartoon called "The Wake over the Remains of the
Democratic Party." The ludicrous corpse of the defunct is stretched
on a rough board and covered with a loose sheet. The lighted candles
at the four corners protrude from the necks of bottles, and the
mourners are indulging in a protracted carouse which seems destined to
end in a free fight. In the center of the picture Kelly, with Ben
Butler as a partner, is doing a dance in the most approved manner of
Donnybrook Fair. All about there is the general atmosphere of turmoil
and unnatural excitement, but the figures of Hewitt, Davis, Belmont,
and English are stretched out in a manner indicating that the
festivities of the night have proved too much for them.
As has already been pointed out, the political caricature
commemorating the Cleveland-Blaine campaign of 1884 was chiefly
remarkable for its extraordinary rancor. There was little, if any,
really good-natured satire underlying these cartoons; they were
designed and executed vindictively, and their main object was to hurt.
Mr. Cleveland's official record in Buffalo, and as Governor of New
York, had been such as to cause many of the more liberal Republicans
to support his candidacy and offered little to the political
cartoonist, so the opponents of Republican caricature found it
expedient to base their attacks on matters of purely personal nature.
[Illustration: The Wake over the Remains of the Democratic Party after
the Election of 1880.
_By courtesy of the Puck Company._]
Even in later years the cartoonist did not entirely refrain from this
method of belittling Mr. Cleveland's capabilities. It was sneeringly
said that much of the success of his administration was due to the
charm, the tact, and the personal magnetism of Mrs. Cleveland, and
this idea was the inspiration of a number of cartoons which were far
from being in the best of taste. One of these which was not
particularly offensive was that entitled "Mr. Cleveland's Best Card."
It was simply a huge playing card bearing the picture of Mrs.
Cleveland. Another much more obnoxious was a curious imitation of the
famous French cartoon "Partant pour la Syrie," which was published in
Paris after the flight of the Empress Eugenie.
[Illustration: A Common Sorrow.]
The Democratic cartoonists, besides their use of the Tattooed Man idea
and the alleged scandals in Mr. Blaine's political career, made a
strong point of the soundness and cleanness of Mr. Cleveland's
official record. A typical caricature of this nature was that drawn by
Gillam called "Why They Dislike Him." It represents Mr. Cleveland as a
lion lying on the rock of Civil Service Reform. Perched on the limb of
a tree overhead are a group of chattering monkeys, his political
enemies, who are hurling at him imprecations and abuse because he will
not consent to serve as the cats-paw to pluck the chestnuts for them
out of the political fire. Familiar faces among the group of noisy
bandar-log are those of Croker, Butler, and Dana. Prostrate and
helpless under the paw of the lion is a monkey with the face of Grady.
[Illustration: Why They dislike Him.
_By courtesy of the Puck Company._]
[Illustration: The First "Tattooed Man" Cartoon.
_By courtesy of the Puck Company._]
The most terrible and effective series of cartoons published during
the Cleveland-Blaine campaign was that in which the Republican
candidate appeared as the Tattooed Man in the political show. For many
weeks during the summer and autumn of 1884 Mr. Blaine was assailed
through this figure in the pages of _Puck_. The story of the origin of
this historic cartoon is as follows: Mr. Bernard Gillam, the artist,
had conceived the idea of a cartoon in which each of the Presidential
possibilities should appear as some sort of freak in a political
side-show. One of these freaks was to be the Tattooed Man, but Mr.
Gillam at first hit upon David Davis as the person to be so
represented. He was describing the proposed cartoon one day in the
office of _Puck_ when Mr. Bunner, who was at that time the editor,
turned suddenly and said: "David Davis? Nonsense! Blaine is the man
for that." The cartoon so conceived was splendidly executed, and
became one of the great pictorial factors in turning the scale of the
election. It stirred Mr. Blaine himself to a point where he resolved
to prosecute the publishers of _Puck_, and was persuaded from this
course only by the very strongest pressure. The tattoo marks which
were most obnoxious to him were those which spelled out the word
"Bribery." A curious feature of this series was that Mr. Bernard
Gillam was an ardent Republican, voting for Mr. Blaine on election
day, and at the same time that he was executing the Tattooed Man
cartoon in _Puck_ was suggesting equally vindictive caricatures of Mr.
Cleveland and the Democratic party for the rival pages of _Judge_.