The Portland daily press., 1897-10-23
POLITICAL CARTOONS.
What the Greater New York is Talk
ing About.
Bright Men With Deft Pencils Who Make
and Unmake the Fortunes of Individ-
uaIs Who Aspire to the Favor of the
Public.
burlington Free Press }

uaiS w HO aspire ~ INC GAVOr OF Cne
Public.
burlington Free Fress.)
New York, Oct. 12-Tt must have made
the cartoonists on the New York dailies
smile to know that Judge Grady at
tributed his throw down by Tammany
to the pencil in the newspaper, and that
he proposes to fight that lever of the pub
Usher to the last. 1t is true, perhaps,
that illustrated journalism" has some
times gone little too far, but the daily
cartoonist never stood higher in public
esteem here in New York than today
not even during the memorable months
of 1875 that saw the downfall of the
Tweed ring.
Then. however, there was only one
cartoonist really worthy the name. Now
there are several who may we'll be termed
masters of their art, not to speak of the
artists on the comic weeklies. Tom Mast
has been succeeded by Davenport and
Bush and Coultas and Barrett Their
work is great feature of the present
campaign. AS Tom Mast was in 1875,
these younger artists are all against
Tammany, and if Tammany shall be de-
feated at the polls there is no doubt that
the public will award much credit to
their pencils.
LEADER OF THEM ALL.
The artist whose drawings are to be
seen almost daily in The Journal, with
the signature Davenport appended, is
undoubtedly the leader of them all Fl is
pictures are wonderfully telling, and in
most cases could be understood by any
one familiar with the trend of the news
and the appearance Of public men almost
as well without as with printed motto.
His work was entirely unknown in New
York before 1896. During the sessions
OF the Republican nominating convention
in ST. Louis he supplemented the news
pictures in The Journal with a series of
exquisitely comical cartoons, in which,
no matter how much the men represented
were caricatured, the likeness was always
faithful to an almost Photographic degree
and, although in each drawing the ar
lists pencil seemed to pierce the weakest
spot in the enemy's armor, an element OF
good humor was always present that
seemed half to take away the sting. The
cartoon entitled "The Elephan6 Now
Goes Round" printed the day after the
nomination of Mckinley, was one of the
funniest pictures that ever appeared in
print in this or any other city.
After the St. Louis convention Daven-
port came to New York as fixture of
The Journal, and he is now gleefully de-
voting his talents to the work of making g
every body who does not support Henry
George for mayor as ridiculous as posi-
BILE. OF course he is well paid. Some say
his salary is not a cent less than $500 a
week or more than $15, 600 year, though
that Is probably too high even In these
days of exceptionally high compensation
for really brilliant journalistic work
He is a young man, big. breezy and
hearty in his ways and fond of telling or
listening to a.good story. Like SO many
others among the workers on the New
York press he lives in Jersey suburb
and journeys to and from his work every
day by train.
BILL NYE'S FAvORITE.
Next to Davenport the strongest car
toonist now in evidence in New York is
probably G. G. Bush. HIS pictures now
adorn The Worlds broad pages, though
heaw was only recently induced to leave The
Herald by a very substantial :. lift in sal
ary.
Bush is much older man than Daven-
port. He began his artistic work as a
comic craftsman pure and simple. and he
made his first hit 10 or 16 years ago with
a little book wherein the humors of the
country choir were broadly though skill.
fully depicted.
For years his quaint conceits adorned
the pages of the Harper's periodicals,
where they attracted the attention of the
late Bill Nye. At Nye's urgent request
Bush undertook to illustrate the humor-
lists weekly letter, and, in Nye's opinion,
succeeded far better than any one else
had ever done in catching the points the
latter most desired should be brought
out.
At that time Bush had hardly essayed
political work at all, but little later he
was taken on The Herald at the special
instance of Bennett himself, who had
seen and laughed over the artists odd
and laughable figures Since then he
has done little but newspaper cartoon
work. mostly political, and until his
capture by The World his pictures were
among the strongest features of the news
paper shop in the Venetian palace at
Thirty fourth street and Broadway. That
he is well paid goes without saying,