Another monopoly octopus from “drafts” folders with no information or notes. I think I may have poached it from Getty Images… Circa 1920s.

Book cover for “De groote Olie octopus, door Truth onderzocht” (The Great Oil Octopus by Truth Examined)‎. ‎Amsterdam, L.J. Veen. Conflicting dates: first published 1910, reprinted 1925?

Dutch Anti-trust/Anti-capitalism criticising oil companies including Esso and Rockefeller.

References: Antiqbook, http://www.antiqbook.nl/boox/vvliet/12028.shtml 
Image Source: International Institute of Social History, Collection: IISG, Call # BG C12/589. (Accessed: 23rd Oct, 2010)

The Marconi Octopus Liberal Party - “Another tentacle or two and I’m done for!” published in Punch, or the London Charivari, on June 18th 1913.

The name ‘Marconi Octopus’ was derived from the Marconi Company who received a large  contract from the UK government to build six radio stations to ‘linking Britain to the Empire’ (1). The scandal involved three ministers — Sir Rufus Isaacs, Lloyd George and Lord Murray — who were accused of insider trading.

The cartoon above was published at the time of a charge of criminal libel against Cecil Chesterton, a publisher, (2) by Godfrey Isaacs, the Marconi Comapny’s director, went to court (3).

The court ruled against Cecil Chesterton and fined him a token £100 plus costs, which was paid by his supporters. Some supporters claimed the decision would have gone differently had Cecil’s lawyer aggressively gone after the accused ministers who were at the heart of the scandal. In the next issue of the New Witness, Cecil Chesterton repeated his allegations against the ministers, who still did not sue. (4)

For more information see: “The Marconi Scandal - 1912” by Parris & MacGuire and “The Marconi Scandal” on Wikipedia.

Footnotes & References:

Image Source: Altered from - Parris & MacGuire, “The Marconi Scandal” (see below) p.82 (Accessed: 3 Oct 2010)

(1) Parris, M. and K. MacGuire (2005). The Marconi Scandal - 1912: From Whitewash to Won’t Wash: the Marconi Octopus. Great Parliamentary Scandals: Five Centuries of Calumny, Smear and Innuendo. London, Robson Books.

(2) Cecil Chesterton published several articles accusing Rufus Isaacs and Herbert Samuel of insider trading (Wikipedia: The Marconi Scandal)

(3) ibid

(4) ibid

“Hints to canvassers at the General Election.”, W.K. Haselden, published in the Daily Mirror 26 Oct 1922 (Source: The British Cartoon Archive)

You must not say that Mr. Hustings Pollwell (marked X) once borrowed sixpence and did not pay it back - unless it happens to be true! 

But you may assert that he is going to ruin trade -
- bring wolves to your door -
- make savagery return to this country -
- cause a plague of octopuses on these shores - 
- and blow up the whole land

“The Modern Devil Fish” was (re)published July¹ 1925 in the Chicago Tribune. The is a caption beneath the cartoon that reads ‘”The tentacles of the Devil Fish cannot be destroyed unless the HEAD, the source of their sustaining power, is destroyed.” – Victor Hugo “Toilers of the Sea”‘². The cartoon is an incitement to vote (the knife) for the Prohibition Party (the arm). The head of the octopus is the ’saloon’, and the arms are ‘political corruption’, ‘defiance of law’, ‘partnership with thieves’,  ‘traffic in girls’ and ‘gambling’.

The date of July 1925 may be a reprint date. This cartoon (unconfirmed) appeared in “Prohibition Cartoons” by  Donald Farquharson Stewart and Henry W. Wilbur with the blurb: “The cartoons in this volume originally appeared in the Defender [publishing company] during the campaign of 1904″.

Image Source: http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/00492/Cartoons.htm (Accessed: 15 Mar 2009)

Footnotes:

1. Might have been late June, the date is derived from a letter to the editor from an edition published in July 1925, that refers to the cartoon appearing in the Chicago Tribune a week before. I don’t have access to back issues of the paper to confirm this.
2. Victor Hugo again.