The Hyphenated American

This one carries the nativism of its era plainly, and should be read that way. Uncle Sam sits under a tree, arms folded, glaring at a line of would-be voters filing toward a ballot box. Each man carries a smaller second self riding on him, a little figure dressed for the old country he came from, German, Irish, English and the rest, the visual pun on "hyphenated American." The caption gives Uncle Sam the grievance: why let these men vote when, in his view, they are only half Americans. The cartoon argues that divided loyalty disqualifies the immigrant voter, a common and ugly strain in the politics of the 1890s. Puck, a magazine founded by immigrants, here sides with the door half-closed. The prejudice is the period's, stated without embarrassment.