I don't usually offer sneak peeks of dialogue from the southwest corner of my cartoons, but I'll make an exception today. I'll explain further later.
A hat tip to friend of the blog D.D. Degg for suggesting as a possible inspiration for Carey Orr's cartoon (see Saturday) the election to Congress from Milwaukee of Socialist Victor Berger.
Voters returned Berger to Congress in the November, 1922 election; I mentioned him in passing in a recent post about the difficulty the House had electing its Speaker in December of 1923. (The 68th Congress began its session in March, but promptly adjourned for the next nine months.) He was first elected to Congress in 1910, but lost his reelection bid in 1912. He won election to Congress again in 1918, but the House refused to seat him, and he was defeated in his 1920 election bid.
Berger served in Congress from 1923 to 1929. Only five months after leaving office, he died as a result of injuries sustained when he was hit by a trolley car while crossing the street.
My opinion, so far, is that if Carey Orr were specifically referencing Congressman Berger, he would have labeled the Wisconsin eruption with the congressman's name. As it is, Orr didn't even limit his concern to Milwaukee, for its socialist congressman and mayor.
Just the same, Orr could certainly have had Berger in mind as one of several "activities in Wisconsin" that would "bear watching."
We'll stay tooned.
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