Puck — September 11, 1878 — page 1: what you’re looking at

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# The Drivers' Strike (September 11, 1878) This Puck cartoon satirizes a streetcar drivers' strike in New York City. The main image shows a policeman perched atop a car full of strikebreakers and strikers' families, wielding guns to enforce operations despite the labor action. The left panel advertises a notice seeking replacement drivers willing to work 16-hour days for reduced wages—the very conditions sparking the strike. The satire's point: Puck criticizes the police's role protecting corporate interests over workers. The caption warns that if companies continue wage cuts, police won't only protect drivers but also their starving families—implying the strike represents legitimate worker desperation, not lawlessness. The cartoon takes labor's side against both employers and the state apparatus supporting them.