Judge — June 11, 1904 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes Republican electoral strategy. The figure riding an elephant (the Republican Party symbol) toward "Republican Success" represents a GOP candidate being carried to the presidency. The elephant is labeled "G.O.P." (Grand Old Party). Above, a tattered flag reading "Federal Regulation of Oppressive Trusts" appears to be falling or abandoned—suggesting Republicans have discarded this policy position. On the left, figures representing "Regulation" and other interests appear frustrated or defeated. The cartoon's title, "Ruth of It," plays on "truth"—criticizing what the cartoonist saw as Republican hypocrisy: using the elephant's power to reach the presidency while abandoning promises to regulate monopolistic trusts that harmed ordinary citizens.