Puck — September 25, 1878 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes the Greenback Party, a late-1870s political movement advocating for paper currency ("greenbacks") over gold-backed money. The caption identifies "The" Allen as a Greenback delegate imprisoned for unspecified reasons—likely debt or legal troubles. The satire works on two levels: Allen claims imprisonment makes him worthy as a Greenback "apostle" (echoing martyrdom rhetoric), while the cartoon mocks the party itself. The figure kneeling before Allen appears to be seeking his counsel or blessing despite—or because of—his incarceration. The joke suggests the Greenback Party attracted morally or legally questionable figures, and that their ideology attracted desperate followers. This reflects contemporary skepticism toward the party's economic proposals and its political viability in 1878.