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Tilden and Hendricks |
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"By Repealing They Resume-By Resuming They Repeal" |
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Cartoonist: Thomas Nast |
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Source: Harper's Weekly |
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Date:
August 26, 1876, p. 704
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Click to return to previous version of this
cartoon |
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Complete HarpWeek Explanation:
The confusion over the Democratic position on the money question (see Monetary Policy in Issues) is the focus of this Nast cartoon which
appears in the back of the same issue as his cover illustration, "A Hard Summer for the Soft Rag Baby." Thomas Hendricks (l), the
vice-presidential nominee, was a former hard-money man turned soft-money
enthusiast. But as the vice-presidential nominee, Hendricks equivocated on the
issue, satisfying neither side. In this cartoon, he turns in the hard-money
direction, despite his "soft soap" collar.
Samuel Tilden (r), the presidential nominee, was a hard-money advocate who
backed the repeal of the fixed date for the resumption of specie payments. That
was a concession to inflationists who saw the date-repeal as a first step toward
their goal of total revocation of resumption. His convoluted statement that the
date-repeal would lead to a more effective process of resumption is aped in the
cartoon's paradoxical title: "By Repealing They Resume-By Resuming They
Repeal." Mirroring Hendricks, "Hard Soap" Tilden turns in the
soft-money direction.
New York City politico John Morrissey again appears as Tilden's money-waving-and
thus vote-buying-backer. Nast also identifies Tilden with financial
improprieties through use of the "usufruct" label (enjoying the
benefits of property that belongs to someone else) and the barrel-of-money
symbol (here, in the left-background). |
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