The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-04-24
THE CARTOON IN POLITICS.
Penn" in Philadelphia Bulletin.

Penn" in Philadelphia Bulletin
The making of cartoons has within q
snort time come to be a profitable calling.
Inc success OF such periodicals as Puck
ana Judge shows how thoroughly the
American people enjoy pictorial satire. In
faci, the demand for such illustrations Is
now SO extensive that i, Is difficult TO
ilnd Cartoonists. There is no more remu-
nsratiVe HELD in comparison To the amount
OF work required than that which pre-
Sents itself to the very few men who can
draw caricatures with force and wit. Not
very long ago the professional caricatur-
lists who were able in this country to earn
Il livelihood solely by their satirical draw
nSs included few outside of Thomas Mast.
Matt Morgan. Frank Belew and Thomas
Worth. Now there are probably twenty
artists In this line of comic work who
earn from $1,000 TO $4,000 year, not to
speak OF multitude of raw sketchers who
choppers OF the daily press. The journals
devoted solely TO cartoons have become a
recognized social and political force. The
power pow 1f p1E, and, lattery' Of Judge in
these papers and others like them are
drawing to themselves men of talent, who
study keenly the varying phases of public
opinion. and whose pencils are moved by
fancy such as appeals irresistibly to the
American sense OF the satirical and the
ridiculous. There Is still much. very
much, crudeness and coarseness in this
art, but since Joseph Keppler came into
the field there has been wonderful i'm
provement in the imaginative faculty of
the cartoonists. in the delicacy of their
wit. and the correctness of their drawings.
-.II:-
Probably no one In this country did more
to make the cartoon popular and effective
than Thomas Mast in the days CT his best
service with Harper's Weekly. Although
occasionally his familiar signature is still
seen on caricature, yet his work has
been for long time past destitute of
vigor and even of originality. 1t is GER
tain that there are dozen or more carl
caturists at the present time whose work
far surpasses anything that Mast has re-
Gently DONE In fact, Mast, when even al
his best, was not distinguished either for
touch The spirit Of his cartoons was
coarse and sometimes barbarous; the eX-
ecution bold and startling. The whole ef-
feet barring the vigorous strokes which
hit right into the very marrow of his sub
ject, was often that Of slovenliness. Every
body knows OF the powerful influence
which his cartoons on the old Tweed ring
had, and how familiar the burly form and
icoring face of the thief became to mil
lions of people all over the country. Prob
ably no public man in the United States
has ever been made more ridiculous by
caricstures than Horace Greeley was by
Mast in the presidential campaign CT 1872,
and for that matter, nearly all the Demo-
cratic and Liberal politicians OF promi-
nance at that time Week after ,Is.i week
folles oddities and vices in fashion
which at times went almost beyond the
bounds of license. Early In the campaign:
when drawing a picture of the Liberal
convention at Cincinnati which nominated
Greeley and Brown, he was at a loss to
find a counterfeit presentment Of the face
Of the candidate for vice-president, who.
well-knOwn statesman. a happy idea
occurred to him. He drew a representa-
ton of a tag tied to the tails of the famous
old Thts b soa sz Of HSTSss easy hs and a
Gus device, which harmonized with the
insignificant character of Brown, was re-
ceived with so much merriment all over
cartoons drawn by Mast during the rest
of the campaign. 1t has often been said
that Nasts brutal carlcatures was one of
the chief causes which brought about
Greely's death thirty days after his de-
feat. But the great editor had become ac-
customed to rough treatment of that kind
for thirty years. and It was only the
his pitiabe collapse and death at Nasts
door. The campaign made Nast's fortune.
His work was sought by everybody, he
became a lecturer. and he was able to
ers. But ever since that time he has not
produced dozen cartoons which have
struck the popular fancy.
Indeed, Mast long ago was Supplanted in
favor BY the late Joseph Eeppler, the
most reIna rkable cartoonist that has ever
appeared In the United States. He far s,n-
passed Mast In originality, fertility, deft-
the process of colorlng and with his grace
of treatment he introduced something
like an element of beauty into the art Of
carica'nre His drawings In Puck were ERE
often marked in peculiar degree by an ex-
traordinary richness md voluptuousness of
imagination 1t would be difficult to name
any caricaturist of recent years. either
in, ~ q Ia nd pr m =
in drawing is united with fancy so eXu-
berant. The feces of the public charac-
teEs in Keppler's drawings were hit off
with so much accuracy, even in their ex-
aggcration, that often they are really bet
ter likcnesses than some pictures drawn
of them in all seriousness. In the presi-
dental campaign of 1884 he gathered
lists allied himself with the anti Blaine
people, and carried off triumphantly the
pictorial honors OF that campaign. The
picture OF the tattooed man.. drawn by
rought. indeed, d barbarous work, but 1t
was terrible in its vivldness, and was
probably the TH0Sr t1fective caricature
ever laid before the American public. In
fact none of the other cartoonists on that
paper have ever succeeded in approaching
* <eppler in the grace with which he made
his points and in the brilliancy of his col
oring.
Late in the campaign a New York poll
tician, one Arkell. who was member
of the state senate, with abundance Of
money. as well as an enterprising Repub'i-
can. caused the Judge to be started as q
rival. 1t was not until Puck had inflicted
the mischief that the Blaine managers
saw what they had lost in. not calling IN
is, thai the tattooed man in Puck had
quite as much to do with the defeat of
Blaine as the Burchard speech or the Jay
Gould dinner. But since that time Judge
which has been strengthened, having
drawn off some of Puck's talent. including
the late Gillian. has been made what might
be called the official cartoon organ organ 9th Sf the
ly and Frank Leslie, they have lost the
pre-eminence which they once enjoyed
for their caricatures. This is probably be-
cause Of the extreme difficulty In finding
men whose work can be admitted into
their columns.
--:ll:--
Mitchell, the owner of that bright and
pleasing weekly, Life, has drawn some
excellent caricatures of a kind, intended
for people of taste. who delight in seeing
the weaknesses of our social HE hit OIL
with grace and spirit. He has been espe-
a Partisan brightness of style on social
upstairs, Anglomaniacs and theatrical fol-
lies De Grimm. of the New York Te!e-
don Bennett. and treated a wide variety
of subjects with Callic fancy. but with
little force. McDouRall. Of the New York
World. who is unusually fertile In humor
in varied range of topics, Is foremost
among the very few men who write rs well
ns draw, and 10 both brilliantly. Taylor,
Zimmerman. Frost, Rogers. Hyde, Van
Schalck Sterner, Herford and Opper have
been among the most noteworthy of the
contributors to the comic periodicals.
They have driven out the old school Of
caricaturists who found their models in
Punch and Vanity Fair and they have
made Punch, which once was so formida-
bic an instrument for lashlng folly. seem
like stupid old fellow tagging super
fuous behind the times. The power which
they now have Is greater than 1t has ever
been, greater even than the power Of Glib
not fewer than million copies OF their