homas Nast replays a theme from his 1872 cartoon
repertoire in this feature of Senator Carl Schurz (r) and New York Tribune
editor Whitelaw Reid (l). In that year, Schurz and Reid were leaders of the
Liberal Republican bolt which nominated Horace Greeley for president and
combined forces with the Democratic party.
Schurz had been disappointed with Greeley's nomination, but resolutely continued
his role in the campaign. In the 1872 cartoon "Key-Note of the Campaign," a disheartened Schurz plays the piano while a
roomful of Liberal-Republican and Democratic adherents lounge about listlessly.
(See also "Played Out!")
Throughout the 1872 campaign, Nast pictured Reid with a musical instrument
(often a hand-organ) labeled "This is not an organ"-a reference to
Greeley's failed promise that his newspaper would not be an official publication
for his candidacy. In "'The Pirates,' Under False Colors," Reid plays
the violin on the Liberal Republican/Democratic pirate ship which tries futilely
to overtake Republican nominee Ulysses S. Grant's "Ship of State."
In 1876 Schurz and Reid, like most liberals, returned to the Republican fold to
support the Hayes-Wheeler ticket. In this cartoon the prodigal sons tune their
instruments to harmonize with the Republican orchestration.