The Seattle star. (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, November 06, 1905, Night Edition

Arm Labels:  Electric Power, Suburban Freight Trains, Electric Light, Politics, Real Estate, Street Car Lines, Wood Yards, Renton Coal Mines

Octopus: Puget Sound National Bank

A CALL TO ARMS

Like a Mighty Octopus, Sucking Life-Blood From the City

Are the people of Seattle under the influence of opiates or are they hopelessly and literally dead?
Is it possible they do not know or do not care whether their most sacred rights and interests are treacherously sold or given outright to greedy and unscrupulous corporations, or reserved for them and their posterity?
At the meeting of the council this very Monday night, a franchise privilege worth millions of dollars will certainly be tossed over to the Seattle
Electric company, unless the people wake up and present themselves at the council chamber with a protest that cannot be misunderstood.
It is proposed to deliberately give away to the Seattle Electric company, whose owners live in Boston, and have not a vestige of interest in Seattle, except the money which they can extract from the people and carry away with them—-
It is proposed to hand over to this company, which calmly ignores the petitions and pleadings of the people of this city for more car lines and better service, the only possible outlet over which a competing or even a city car line can in the future be built from the business section to the north end of the city.
This privilege is worth millions.
It effectually and forever gives the death blow, to the possibility of a municipal car service.
Can you trust your city council to protect the interests of the people against the dark lantern methods of this foreign corporation?
Could the people of Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis or Philadelphia trust their councils?
There is but one way to save the city from the treacherous game of give-away that is being played between the council and the electric octopus, and that is to appear in person at the council chamber and enter a protest against this business of selling out you and your posterity which these juggling aldermen can comprehend.
THIS CRIME OF SELLING OUT THE RIGHTS OF POSTERITY IS THE MOST PERFIDIOUS THAT MEN CAN PERPETRATE. THE ORDINARY ROBBER MEETS YOU ON THE HIGHWAY AND TELLS YOU TO STAND AND DELIVER. HE DOES NOT MORTGAGE YOUR FUTURE LABOR OR THAT OF YOUR CHILDREN. BUT THE FRANCHISE GRABBER STRETCHES HIS FELONIOUS FINGERS FAR INTO THE FUTURE AND STEALS THE INHERITANCE OF THE CHILD WHOSE FATHER IS YET UNBORN.
There are 100,000 people living north of Pike street. Are the rights and interests of such a vast community to be thrown away forever?
Is the sole means of access to this great and growing district to be handed over to Mr. Furth and his foreign backers in response to some silent and hypnotic influence which he seems able to exert?

DROP YOUR BUSINESS FOR AN HOUR AND TURN OUT FOR YOURSELVES THIS MONDAY NIGHT FOR POSTERITY AND FOR THE CITY’S WELFARE.

Cartoon by Pashtanika circa 1919. “Lavoratori! Diamo ancor forza al braccio!” (Arm reference to human arm, not any of the octopuses). Octopus is ‘Capitalism’, its arms are ‘poverty’, prostitution’, ‘war’, ‘child labor’ and ‘wage slavery’. Label on human arm refers to Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W). 

The note at the bottom says: “Il Proletario, an Italian-Language I.W.W. Newspaper, borrowed graphics from Solidarity and the Industrial Pioneer. The editor would usually add a caption in Italian. The above caption reads: “Workers! Give Me More Strength in my Arm!”, Hence all the text in the cartoon is in English, while the caption is in Italian. Also means it was published previously.

Compare to prohibition cartoon ‘The Modern Devil Fish’, which is about the same age.

Image source: “Seattle General Strike:  Industrial Workers of the World” (Accessed: 15th Sept 2010).

Cartoon by Peter Schrank, published in the ‘Independent on Sunday’, on the 23rd Mar 1997. More sleazy tentacles in the ‘Cash for Questions’ affair.

Image Source: The British Cartoon Archive - University of Kent

“Sleaze”by Peter Schrank, Published in ‘The Independent’ on the 7th Oct 1996. Relates to the ‘Cash for Questions’ Affair. See also: David Brown cartoon.

Image Source: The British Cartoon Archive - University of Kent

The cartoon by Dave Brown was published in the Sunday Times on the 6th Oct 1996, at the end of the “Cash for Questions” affair.

The people illustrated are¹: Ian Greer (the Octopus), David Linsay Willetts (left of octopus), Mohamed Al-Fayed (right of octopus, entangled in tentacle), Former British PM John Major (right of octopus - glasses, entangled in tentacle), and Neil Hamilton (under water reaching for writ that the lobster is removing out of his reach).

Text: “Libel Writ”, “Harrods Voucher”

A Westminster lobbying company was paid tens of thousands of pounds to give to two high-flying Conservative MPs for asking parliamentary questions at £2,000 a time on behalf of Harrods during the height of the Lonrho and House of Fraser controversy.

Neil Hamilton, now minister at the Department of Trade and Industry responsible for business probity, and Tim Smith, junior Northern Ireland minister, were both named yesterday as recipients of payments passed to Ian Greer Associates by Mohamed Al-Fayed, the owner of Harrods, on top of a £50,000 fee for a parliamentary lobbying campaign.²

In response Ian Greer and Neil Hamilton issued libel writs against The Guardian³. These were withdrawn in late September 1996 (just prior to the cartoon), when evidence against them was produced by employees of Al-Fayed⁴.

The ‘Harrods Voucher’ refers to a free shopping spree at Harrods provided by Al-Fayed to Hamilton⁵.

David Linsay Willetts (pictured to one side, shaking) was forced to resign as Paymaster General as a result of the investigation into Neil Hamilton in 1996⁶.

Further info/links on the ‘Cash for Questions’ in footnotes.

Footnotes

Image Source: Cartoon ”Sleaze“ by Dave Brown, Publ. in Sunday Times, 6 October 1996, Held in the British Cartoon Archive (Accessed: 17th Feb 2009)

1. “PC0437”, British Cartoon Archive (Accessed: 17th Feb 2009)
2. Hencke, David. “Tory MPs Were Paid to Plant Questions Says Harrods Chief.” The Guardian, Thursday 20 October 1994. (Accessed: 18th Feb 2009)
3. Wikipedia. “Cash-for-Questions Affair.”  Last edited: 03 Feb 2010 (Accessed: 18th Feb 2009)
4. ibid.
5. Hencke, ‘Tory MPs’
6. Wikipedia. “David Willetts.”  Last edited: 07 Feb 2010 (Accessed: 18th Feb 2009)