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Historic Wall Street Political Cartoons

These political cartoons from the early 20th century show that complaints against Wall Street have not changed much in 100 years.

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Wall Street Bubbles- Always the Same!

This May 1901 cartoon depicts a caricature of John Pierpont Morgan as a bull. He blows bubbles labeled "inflated values" as groups of people struggle to reach them.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

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The Triumph of the Bear

This June 1903 illustration shows a bear and a bull as gladiators in an arena; the bear has one foot on the bull and is about to plunge a sword labeled "RAIDS" into the bull. Sheep at the edge of the wall appear to be signaling death to the bull.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

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He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not.

This Feb 1907 illustration shows a woman labeled "Wall Street" as a nursery rhyme figure, pulling paper flower petals labeled "Tight Money" and "Easy Money as she says "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not." Her bodice is labeled "Stock Exchange." U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Labor George B. Cortelyou, dressed as an Elizabethan suitor, is looking over her shoulder.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

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Jack and the Wall Street Giants

This Jan 1904 illustration shows a diminutive President Theodore Roosevelt standing on Wall Street, holding a large sword labeled "Public Service" before giant, capitalist ogres. One ogre, labeled "J.J. Hill," holds a club labeled "Merger," while another, "Morgan," holds a club labeled "High Finance." The last is "Rockefeller, Oxnard, and Gould."

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

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The New Finance

Most likely drawn in 1906, this cartoon shows sheep jumping off of a plank labeled "elastic currency" and over "the new finance" rhinoceros onto a pillow of "unlimited credit."

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

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The Haunted House

This Nov 1907 illustration shows an interior view of a boardroom which is apparently haunted by the appearance of a ghost labeled "Spirit of Honesty." It frightens men labeled Corporation Lawyer, Fake Promoter, Secret Rebater, Lobbyist, Public Service Grafter, Public Exploiter, Hypocrite, Employed Perjurer, Speculating Trust Co, and the Yellow Dog Keeper.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

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Rotten Finance

This Nov 1907 cartoon depicts a stonewall labeled "Rotten Finance," constructed from the faces of many businessmen and financiers; on the ground is a broken egg labeled "Confidence." Pictured on the wall are John D. Rockefeller, J. Pierpont Morgan, and Edward H. Harriman.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

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Well For Once They Can't Blame Me!

This Dec 1907 Illustration shows the Democratic donkey sitting among papers that blame the Trusts, Wall Street, High Finance, Overcapitalization, the Railroads, and Crooked Business. Blaming Roosevelt is undecided. Many are blamed, but no one will accept the responsibility for the panic of 1907.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

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The Mystery of the Banker's Lunch Club

This illustration from May 1911 shows three steel workers sitting on a girder eating the lunch that they apparently pilfered through an open window nearby. The window opens to a bankers' club room that is adjacent to the building they are constructing.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.