Life, 1898-12-01 · page 9 of 21
Life — December 1, 1898 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "A Star Boarder" - Political Cartoon Analysis This satirical cartoon depicts Cuba as a disruptive "star boarder" (tenant) in an American household. The figure, wearing a large hat and surrounded by chaos—scattered furniture, broken items, and general disorder—represents Cuba disrupting American domestic life and politics. The accompanying article "Vive Expansion!" discusses General Wood's Cuba experiences and debates Cuban incorporation into American citizenship. The cartoon satirizes concerns about Cuban admission: the chaos imagery suggests Cubans would destabilize American society and politics, playing on period anxieties about racial and cultural differences. The "star boarder" metaphor implies Cuba is an unwelcome addition to the American household, creating problems rather than benefits—a critique of American expansionist policy and Cuban-American integration during the Spanish-American War era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Vive Expansion! HE reports of General Wood's experiences in Cuba must bo highly reassuring to those who bavo had doubts as to the availability of tho natives of the Spanish islands for all the duties and privileges of American citizen- ship, or who havo thought it a dangerous experiment to annex people of differ- ont raco, training and character. This doubt has been set at rest by YY Gonoral Wood, who shows that the Cubans havo a gonius for practical politics hardly inforior to our own, Evidently tho state of affairs in Cuba for somo time past must have prepared it for the lessons which Illi- nois and tho Carolinas are teaching just now, and dovelopments during the recent campaign proved that some, at least, of the Cubans were up to the standard of Utah and Kansas in matters of good faith and sweet reasonableness, but it was still doubt- ful how far they were capable of appreciat- ing our political system, This General Worl makes clear. “Crowds of office seckers constantly besiege him,” so it is evident that though tho Cubans may not be practiced in elect ing a President, they know what should be tho chief function of any official after elec- tion, and are quite prepared to see that he fulfils it. “ All regard for the general wel- fare is lost sight of,” which again sounds familiar, In fact, the spoils system seems nearly as firmly rooted in Cuba as in Chi- cago, and the power and position of tho boss aro as woll developed in Manzanilla a8 in Manhattan, Unfortunately, the superi- ority of party loyalty to all considerations of honesty and morality bas not beon worked out s0 fully iv Cuba as in Pennsy!- vania, and tho relations between the judi- ciary and the party in power aro not 80 well understood as in New York, but these aro only details; the Cubans have the right principle, and a little practice will bring thom up to our own standard. Of course, there are those who will claim that this attitude of the Cubans increases enormously the difficulties of a problem alrcady too yreat, and that the olements of violence, dishonesty and corruption need no strengthening; but these will be the theorists who waste yotes on independent candidates. Practical men will bail tho Cubans as brothers in office, if not in arms; and Alger, Quay, Croker, and their class, will seo in the addition of Cuba to our country additional opportunities for por- sonal vindications, as well as a new fleld for the exercise of their peculiar talents, DERE: By all means, let us expand. Kidd bas shown that it is our moral duty, and tho Cubans show that it is a mat- ter of public policy. Ae Pr a So a = A STAR BOARDER.” comicbooks.com