Well, yes… Blog not dead, still many topics to cover. Unlikely to happen this month though for various reasons I am not going to go into. Just wanted to point out still alive, and project is still going ahead, just very, very slowly.
The Standard Oil Company
June 1, 2009 · 1 Comment
I am afraid this is a fairly short and disjointed post. The Standard Oil is rather a large octopus, and the following only a selection.
One of the earliest references to the Standard Oil “octopus” was in an article that appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, in March 1881. ‘The Story of A Great Monopoly‘: “So closely had the Standard octopus gripped itself about Mr. Vanderbilt [railroads] that even at the outside rates its competitors could not get transportation from him.”1
The name stuck. The representation of Standard Oil as an octopus continued. You can learn more about Standard Oil at Wikipedia. The Standard Oil octopus is one of a group that includes Rockefeller and the Railroads.
The first cartoon2 is from 1880 which criticizes ‘the pollution of New York’s air by the Standard Oil plant in the Bronx. The company is depicted as “A HORRIBLE MONSTER, WHOSE TENTACLES SPREAD POVERTY, DISEASE AND DEATH”.’ and was published July 19th, 1880.
A HORRIBLE MONSTER, WHOSE TENTACLES SPREAD POVERTY, DISEASE AND DEATH (1880)
In 1904 Puck published an iconic cartoon “Next!”. It shows an oil tank/octopus hybrid with the name “Standard Oil” on the Tank. The octopus has arms “wrapped around the steel, copper, and shipping industries, as well as a state house, the U.S. Capitol, and one tentacle reaching for the White House.”3
Next! (1904)
In 1910 the Standard Oil Company published a pamphlet with a design that suggested an octopus:
Standard Oil Company, Roycroft Cover (1910)
The following is from Jackson, P., ‘Dard Hunter Stylized Octopus‘ (Accessed: 1st June 2009).
In 1910, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company was battling efforts by the government to break up the huge organization, which contended that it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Although the trust itself had been previously dissolved, the many different affiliates of the company still retained a monopoly in the oil industry. No doubt sensing the opportunity for some business, Elbert Hubbard wrote a piece in “The Fra” that praised the work of Standard Oil and defended it from the many words of criticism that it had been receiving. Of course, a business Little Journey soon followed, with Standard Oil commissioning a reprint of the article. Dard Hunter designed a special cover for the pamphlet, with artwork that bore a strange resemblance to an octopus. Symbolic of the company’s monopolistic stranglehold on the nation’s economy, this animal was used to depict Standard Oil in many a critical article and cartoon. Whether done as a joke, or as a statement of the artist’s true feelings about the company, the illustration was supposedly caught by Hubbard before the booklet went to press. He allowed it to be printed though, saying that the Standard Oil people would never notice. Evidently they didn’t notice, but it made no difference, as the Supreme Court ruled against the company the following year. Printed by the Roycrofters in East Aurora, New York in 1910.
The following is only indirectly related to Standard Oil:
Frenzied Lawson "Darn your big stick! Get a meat Ax!!" (ca 1906)
[Thomas W.] Lawson’s public feud with the “Standard Oil crowd” won him a reputation as a reformer. … Denver Post cartoon shows him battling an octopus with the head of John D. Rockefeller, even though John D. had had nothing to do with Bay State Gas, Amalgamated Copper, or Lawson’s other dealings with Henry Rogers.4
Standard Oil as a contortionist: Bradley, L.D. (3rd Feb 1909) “Before the Trojan horse is admitted the puzzled citizen will have to be shown a little more fully” Published in the Chicago Daily News. (This cartoon has been covered previously)
Trojan Horse (Bradley, 1909)
Footnotes
- Lloyd, H.D. (1881), The Atlantic Monthly, http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/188103/monopoly/3 Accessed: 14th Mar 2009
- Image source: Kovarik, W. ”Industrial Revolution: 1810 – 1890″ Environmental History Timeline http://www.runet.edu/~wkovarik/envhist/4industrial.html
- Keppler, Udo J. (1904), “Next!” Puck, v. 56, no. 1436 (N.Y. : J. Ottmann Lith, Co.) 1904 Sept. 7. (Image source: LOC http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?pp/PPALL:@field(NUMBER+@1(cph+3b52184)) Accessed 1st June 2009)
- Plazak, D. (2007) http://www.miningswindles.com/html/thomas_lawson.html (Accessed: 1st June 2009)
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Tagged: 1880s, 1900s, 1910s, antitrust, capitalism, monopoly, octopi, octopus, political cartoons, propaganda, standard oil, tentacular, united states
Es Kommt Der Tag! (ca 1941)
May 22, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Es Kommt Der Tag! (ca 1941)
“Es kommt der Tag!” (The day comes!) shows an octopus with only four limbs (and no eyes) in the shape of a swastika. The image appeared on a gummed perforated label to be used much as stickers are used now. To appear on street posts, tables, letter boxes etc. This one in particular was designed by the British for use in Germany during World War Two.
To learn more the is a very informative article “Propaganda Gummed Labels of WWII” at Psywarrior by SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.)
Image Source: “Propaganda Gummed Labels of WWII” http://www.psywarrior.com/WWIPropGLabels.html, Accessed 22nd May 2009.
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Tagged: 1940s, germany, political cartoons, UK, WWII
C.P Hunting as an Octopus (1896)
May 22, 2009 · Leave a Comment
The following cartoon “C.P. Hunting as an Octopus” by Jimmy Swinnerton was published in the San Francisco Examiner, December 14th 18961. The cartoon show an octopoid with trunk like limbs as a head of a bearded man, with C.P. Hunting (Collis Potter) written across its forehead. Huntington was a railway magnate and one of the “big four”2.
Each of its limbs holds either a person: “farmer”, “merchant”, “orange raiser”, “manufacturer” or an object: a piece of paper saying “honest vote” and a building with “San Francisco” flag. It has a small wound on one limb with “Johnson Defeat” written next to it.
Hunting as an Octopus (1896)
Image Source: California State Library, http://bancroft.library.ca.gov/diglib/imagedata.cfm?id=1408 Accessed: 22nd May 2009.
- California State Library, http://bancroft.library.ca.gov/diglib/imagedata.cfm?id=1408 Accessed: 22nd May 2009 [↩]
- Wikipedia (2009), “Collis Potter Huntington”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collis_Potter_Huntington, Accessed: 22nd May 2009 [↩]
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Tagged: 1890s, monopoly, octopus, political cartoon, railroads
The Yellow Peril
May 21, 2009 · Leave a Comment
The following are images show how the octopus could be used to demonise groups of people. It is worth comparing the first from the USA which is the standard paranoia about immigrants taking jobs to the New Zealand and Australian which cartoon which ascribe to the Chinese everything considered immoral at the time.
“What Shall We Do With Our Boys?”, USA
"What Shall We Do With Our Boys?" (1882)
The following is from: The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library1:
San Francisco received many Chinese immigrants because of its geographic position and the economic opportunities California offered. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, a proposal to outlaw most Chinese immigration was under debate at this time and several California publications, including The Wasp, tried to influence Congress to pass this law. Many Americans opposed Chinese immigration, arguing that the Asians were willing to do manual labor for low wages and took jobs away from American citizens.
The cartoon shows a multi-armed Chinese worker with a foot on a wooden board that says “Chinese trade monopoly”. There is a bale of tobacco in the background. He appears to be making clothes, shoes, cigars and handling tools at the same time. He is holding a bag of “Earnings”. In the meantime, a group of unemployed loiter outside, and a (father? police office?) is escorting a boy to San Quentine (a prison, might be some sort of “school”). There is other writing but it is too illegible.
But the paranoia wasn’t limited to the USA.
“The Yellow Peril” (New Zealand)
The following was published in the “New Zealand Truth” on the 16th of February 1907. The arms are labelled “greed”, “licentiousness”, “opium traffic”, “brutality” and “evil habits”. The cartoon shows a Chinese octopus reaching out of a cave across water to New Zealand and entangling a Maori woman.
The Yellow Peril (1907)
The Mongolian Octopus – His Grip on Australia
Artist Phillip May, Published in The Bulletin on the 21st August 1886. The arms labelled: “Customs Robbery”, “Fan-Tan“, “Opium”, “Small-Pox”, “Immorality”, “Pak Ah-Pu“, “Cheap Labour”
The Mongolian Octopus (1886)
This cartoon was apparently reworked to demonstrate demonisation of ethnic groups in modern cartoons:
Geoff Pryor, editorial cartoonist for the Canberra Times has recently (6 September 2001) used the racism of nineteenth-century cartoonists as a vehicle for critique of current racial politics. Under the title ‘Recycling’, he reproduced the famous ‘Mongolian octopus’ cartoon by Phil May, first published in the Bulletin in 1886. Pryor annotated the cartoon, suggesting the addition of a turban and other features to turn the Chinese menace into an Islamic one.2
Image Sources:
“What Shall We Do With Our Boys?” The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library (Accessed 21st March 2009)
“The Yellow Peril” (1907) Te Papa – Tai Awatea (Accessed: 21st May 2009)
“The Mongolian Octopus” Multicultural Research Library, General Reference Library, State library of NSW. (Accessed: 21st May 2009)
- The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library Accessed 21st March 2009 [↩]
- Sawer, M. (2001) “Cartoons for the Cause: Cartooning for Equality in Australia”, EJournalist, http://ejournalist.com.au/v1n2/SAWER.pdf, Accessed: 21st May 2009 [↩]
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Tagged: 1880s, 1900s, australia, new zealand, octopus, racism, united states
The cephalopod, -or terrestrial devil fish-, a monster
May 21, 2009 · Leave a Comment
This is the earliest cartoon (1873) in my collection of the octopus as a metaphor for an industry. The presence of the cave, and the timing1 would suggest an Victor Hugo influence. It also precedes the ‘burst’ of octopus cartoons in the 1880s and is slightly earlier the “Serio-Comic War Map” of Europe (1877).
I think the caption reads: “The cephalopod, -or terrestrial devil fish-, a monster of (civilization?)”2. It was published on the 4th March 1873 by the New York Daily Graphic.
Between its humanoid teeth the octopus holds a piece of paper: “Congressional Honor”. The human mouth appears below a normal octopus orifice. Most of its limbs are trains, except for the lowest one which is very serpentine. The motive (Victor Hugo) of the cave makes an appearance. As does USA (Lady Liberty?). An unusually creepy image.
Other little details is the train (at least I think it is a train) is approaching in the background, following the power lines. Also, the birds are flying an orderly and serpentine line.
The cephalopod - terrestrial devil fish - a monster of (civilisation?) (1873)
Image source: “Railroad Cartoons: The Image and the Locomotive”, http://sophia.smith.edu/~maldrich/introduction.html (Accessed: 21st May 2009) – Some interesting late 19th C & early 20th C railroad cartoons.
Footnotes
- Six years after publication of “Toilers of the Sea” in English in New York
- It actually looks like “centilalization” – which would make no sense – centralization perhaps? Ah, access to actual archives would be nice…
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Tagged: 1870s, octopus, political cartoons, railways
Quel Appetit (ca 1905)
May 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Quel Appetit! (Lemot, 1905)
“Quel Appetit! (What Appetite!) by A. Lemot1. It refer to a scandal in France circa 1904-1905 “L’Affaire des Fiches de délation” or “the affair of the cards of denunciation”2.
L’Affaire des Fiches de délation (“affair of the cards of denunciation”) was a political scandal in France in 1904-1905 in which it was discovered that the militantly anticlerical War Minister under Emile Combes, General Louis André, was determining promotions based on a huge card index on public officials, detailing which were Catholic and who attended Mass, with a view to preventing their promotions. Both Combes and André were Freemasons, and much of the information had been collected by the Masonic Grand Orient de France. Discovery of this by the media undermined the government3.
‘Rue Cadet’ written on the cave, with the pillar holding up the entrance, refers to a masonic temple is located on Rue Cadet, street in Paris4. The pot (casserole) on the octopuses head is a common anti-Masonic symbol from the period5.
Footnotes
- Unfortunately, this is the best quality image I could find online. I have cropped off the caption beneath the image due to it being illegible. Image source: http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=889&page=7 Accessed: 15 Mar 2009
- Translation from Wikipedia – “Affaire des Fichese” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affaire_Des_Fiches (Accessed 18th May 2009)
- Wikipedia – “Affaire des Fichese” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affaire_Des_Fiches (Accessed 18th May 2009)
- Adam Eli Clem, ‘Octopus & Propaganda’
- La Casserole, http://chansmac.ifrance.com/docs/anti/casserol.html (French) (Accessed 18th May 2009)
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Tagged: 1900s, france, octopus, political cartoon
Octopus Roundup – April
May 10, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Short post. Two recent cartoons showing fairly standard octoprop fare. The first regarding terrorism, and the second one the economic crisis and budget cuts in Russia.
NB. Image links go to an external site (New York Times cartoon syndicate).
The first by Paresh (27th April 2009) is in regards to the Swat Valley peace deal (i.e. search Google News). It shows a fairly standard take on terrorism as an octopus.
Pakistan Swat Deal (Paresh 2009)
The second by Talimonov (21st Apr 2009) is a Russian cartoon with the caption “…Social Welfare next…”. The octopus is an economic one (the state budget), and is battered and bandaged with its limbs being cut off by a executioner figure at the direction of “Government” (standing on a soapbox?). The limbs already cut off are “pension” and “education”, and the axe poised over “NHS”. The remaining limbs are: “military”, “science”, “social welfare”, “industry” and “environment”.
Talimonov (2009)
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Tagged: 2000s, budget, economic crisis, economy, octopi, octopus, octopuses, pakistan, political cartoon, russia, swat deal, taliban, terrorism
1960s British Octopuses
April 23, 2009 · Leave a Comment
There was a post for the following. Alas, now it is no more. I am not sure where it went.
No critique for the following British cartoons 1960s cartoons, the topics are a bit disparate from credit crunch to security and the channel tunnel. However, there are only two cartoonists: Cummings and Franklin. (For more octopus political cartoons from the UK)
The following cartoons where raided from the British Cartoon Archive (BCA). I’ve included the source/archive link for each images (on the image description page) as the BCA allows you to zoom in on each image.
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- Thank God for Byrne! (Cummings, 1961a)
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- Of course, I’m still Mr. Unflappable (Cummings, 1961b)
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- Treasure Island (Franklin, 1964)
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- Harold, Smith and ‘Security’ Council (Cummings, 1966)
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- The Harold Houdini Christmas Show (Franklin, 1967)
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Tagged: 1960s, britain, octopus, octopuses, political cartoons, UK
Corporate Greed (1882)
April 5, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Corporate Greed (1882)
Cartoon published 27th June 1882 shows a large bulbous octopus sitting on top of a pile of crates and bales. The caption apparently reads: “Corporate greed octopus gobbles up freight for Great Railroad while unemployed handlers look on”1. Octopus head reads: “Corporate Greed. All for ourselves, nothing for the public”. The tentacles have the names of railway companies on them.
Unfortunately image quality is too low to make out the artists signature or the name on the building behind the octopus.
Footnotes
- Corbis http://tinyurl.com/cl8voh (Accessed 4th April 2009)
Image Source: Corbis http://tinyurl.com/cl8voh (Accessed 4th April 2009)
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Tagged: 1880s, capitalism, monopoly, octopus, political cartoon, railroads, railways
