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A Selection of Cartoons from Puck cover

A Selection of Cartoons from Puck

Chapter 40: FIRST ANNUAL PICNIC OF THE “KNIGHTS OF LABOR”—MORE FUN FOR THE SPECTATORS THAN FOR THE PERFORMERS.
By Joseph Ferdinand Keppler
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About This Book

This collection gathers satirical pictorial essays and caricatures originally published in a humor magazine, pairing sharp visual exaggeration with allegorical scenes to comment on political and social issues of the late nineteenth century. An introductory essay explains the artist’s German-influenced approach that fuses caricature and cartooning into dramatic parables, and the plates reproduce large, detailed cartoons with accompanying captions and an index to aid interpretation. The volume emphasizes visual wit, topical parody, and the interplay of character drawing and symbolic narrative.

FIRST ANNUAL PICNIC OF THE “KNIGHTS OF LABOR”—MORE FUN FOR THE SPECTATORS THAN FOR THE PERFORMERS.

PUCK, June 21st, 1882.

The cartoon suggested by the “First Annual Picnic of the Knights of Labor” can hardly be said to belong to Puck’s famous group of labor cartoons. Its appearance preceded by some four years the great discussion of the labor question; and it is essentially what is known to artists as a “situation” picture, aiming at nothing more than the simple presentation of a fact. But it is curious to note that it was called forth by the futile strikes in the iron mill region, and even at that early date the editorial comments accompanying the cartoon ascribed the anomalous condition of affairs principally to the inequalities of fortune engendered by the protective system. The comments close thus: “It is not extravagant wages that the workman wants, it is purchasing power with the wages he does earn.”