Omaha daily bee., 1908-08-24
BIRTH OF PARTY EMBLEMS
How the Elephant and the Donkey
Butted Into Politics.
CREATIONS OF THos. MAST
Father of the Americas Cartoon set
the Pace for All that Fol-
lOwed - RecOlIectiOns Of
Forme Campaigns.

once on q rather remote time there wss
a really great American artist. But his
greatness was never disclosed so long as
he confined his work to flat seriousness
mere lay fagures OF men, landscapes. and
the like. His art lay in the sketch pen
rather than a brush.
Fortune decreed that this great artist
should live In stirring times. In great
measure his pictures we're destined to
become a sort OF national gallery Of
pictorial history. As time sped many OF
his pen sketches came each to represent
some distinct step in a struggling nations
progress.
But this man was not alone an artist,
else his work would never have been done.
He was a politician-a little one in the
beginning, great one in the end, He It
was who created the elephant as symbolic
Of the republican party, and the longeared
, donkey that came finally to he accepted
as the patron saint of democracy. Being a
rank p~artisat, his partisanship came to the
fore in these creations. as all fair-minded
persons must admit. The elephant was
meant TO symbolic political greatness, the
donkey democratic unwisdom and loud
braying.
ms great ARTIST WAS nOne OintI llldh
Thomas Mast. He died some four years
ago at Guayaquil. Ecuador. while in the
United States consular service. He was
the Father of the American Cartoon" and
ip his day he welded an influence on the
affairs of the nation such as is accorded
to few men. Public opinion followed his
caricatures Of men and events, commencing
their biting satire. or matchmaking it.
according as it suited it's political taste, or
scorched it.
1t was Just thirty-four years ago that
Mast created the elephant as symbolic Of
republicanism. Not long afterwaTd he
branded the big pschydern &c. o. p
the Grand Old Party. That was in 1874,
when the question of a third term fer
President Grant was the great topic Of the
day-a political rock on which the republi
can party threatened to 60 to pieces for all
time TO come.
Donkey Preceded the Elephant.
The donkey of democracy antedates the
republican elephant by more than -four
years. 1t was in the issue of Harper's
Weekly for January 10, 1870, that the long.
cared animal dropped off the tip of Nast''
pen, But in its spectacular first appearances
II got no such d~ignified name as donkey
It was just plain iackass.
Assaulted and battered as it was by every
democrat the country over, that poor little
iackass was destined to be evoluted into
a respectable donkey and adopted by de
mocracy as it's very own. The rancor Of
it was lost in stretch of time, and the PARTY
became vain OF its symbolic possession
The long-despised barnyard prima donna
had at last come into its domains, ant
today. carrying weight for age, it cuts oui
a fine pace for the elephant in the nationa
handicap.
The original donkey was brought int
the world by way of a satirical thrust al
democracy. 1t rocked not OF dignitied per
petuity as the symbol OF that party. Mas
drew it as representing democratic leaders
at a time wher, through the newspaper
dominated by them, they were scorchini
the memory of Stanton. Lincoln's war sec
rotary, during the rebellion, on the pillor!
of partisan abuse. Stanton was picture,
as a lion, recumbent in death. The jackas
was backed up close to the dead lion, and
with tail %aflutter, was kicking viciousl!
over its head. In the distance the Ameri
can eagle was looking on from a cragg!
; perch. Beneath was this line:
Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion"
y To say that that pioneer cartoon raised
. merry war is to put it but gently, as Pa
broke the news to the sudden WidoS
! O'Hara when her husband met an un
, timely end in a railway smashup. TIL
70 fact that Mast labeled his jackass Cop
perhead' was not intended to sooth tn
temper Of the time.
Truth to tell, no end OF a storm followe
o in the wake of that little mule. The dem
ocratic party leaders lost no time in tyin
tin cans OF anathema to his tail and othc'
|. wise marrying him without stint, Tn
donkey was a regular hurricane in effoc
The walls OF party hatred were openc
enew and Long Ears became the stor,
center Of a memorable battle OF politics
Giants.