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 English: The Language of Money

 


 “A Tail Praising Its Head”
  Cartoonist:  Thomas Nast
  Source:  Harper's Weekly
  Date:   August 21, 1880, p. 529

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Complete HarpWeek Explanation:
Like the previous cartoon, A. B. Frost's "Chorus of Hungry Democrats," artist Thomas Nast also raises the subject of the miserliness of the wealthy William English, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee. Nast portrays Democratic presidential nominee Winfield Hancock as a stately lion guarding Governor's Island, where the general was stationed as commander of the U.S. Army's Atlantic Division. Hancock frowns at his running mate, stuck on the tip of his tail, who holds a document reading "Praise but No Money." English's letter of acceptance effusively extolled the virtues of the presidential nominee, but Hancock and other Democrats were irritated by the Indianapolis banker's refusal to donate his own money to the campaign. In an age when attacks on political opponents were unapologetically direct, rather than subliminal, Nast caricatures the Democratic ticket as besieged by "(Democ)RATS" scurrying to find morsels of political patronage and government largesse.
 

 

 

 
 

 

     
 

 

 
     
 

 

 
     
 

 

 

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