Judge, 1895-10-05 · page 9 of 16
Judge — October 5, 1895 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes concerns about **William C. Whitney** and **Grover Cleveland** accumulating excessive political power, invoking the specter of autocratic rule. The imagery—a muscular laborer grappling with a demonic or dark figure in classical robes before a government building—visualizes the struggle between democratic values and authoritarian concentration of power. The Shakespeare quote (altered) reinforces the satire: democracy shouldn't depend on a single great man, yet Cleveland appears to be consolidating influence. Whitney, apparently a political rival or successor being positioned by Cleveland, represents continuation of this dangerous precedent. The cartoon's title references **Caesarism**—rule by a single powerful leader mimicking Julius Caesar—expressing anxiety that American democracy was devolving into personality-cult politics dominated by one towering figure rather than republican principles. The satire targets both the potential for autocratic leadership and contemporaries' enablement of it.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OF “CAESARUISM).” Whitney for the presidency. «d be in that Cleveland? | more than yours ? Whitney will start a spirit as soon as Cleveland. Now in the names of all the gods at once, Upon what meat doth this our Cleveland feed, That he is grown so great ?—Age, thou art sham'd ! Democracy, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods ! When went there by an age, since the great flood, But it was fam‘d with more than with one man? — Shakespeare (slightly altered). 3Y S Sackett # Wuhelms Litho Co Kew York COMICDOOKS:CO