The latter image also recalls a cartoon from the 1876 campaign, “A Hard Summer for the Soft Rag Baby," in which artist Thomas Nast depicts the rag baby, a symbol for inflationary money, in a crib, by which stands Democratic presidential nominee Samuel J. Tilden holding a nursing baby bottle (like the one on the floor of this cartoon). In both the 1876 and 1896 elections, opponents criticized Democrats for rejecting the gold standard in favor of inflationary schemes (greenbacks and free silver, respectively).