Speaker Keifer’s Kaleidoscopic Speech

Object Details

Puck, a 19th century humor magazine, published this satirical illustration of House Speaker Warren Keifer’s speech at the New York Chamber of Commerce Banquet. The central image—and theme of the critique—focuses on the line from Keifer’s speech, “we have monopolies, it is true, but these are evidences of our growth and grandeur.” Puck’s editorial standpoint is clearly the opposite. Above the quote is a carriage, driven by an eagle-headed coachman carrying a whip labeled “Revenue Tariff.” The vehicle conveys four industrialists, identified on the money bag each holds—Vanderbilt, Gould, Sage, and Field. The carriage is pulled by a long line of individuals representing different citizens: the starving laborer, the war widow, the old merchant, and the sewing girl, among others.