When It's Least Expected, You're Elected

Our Graphical History Tour returns to Iowa in 1926

"Making a Banquet for the Democrats" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, June 4, 1926

If you were on the Tour when we welcomed "Ding" Darling back to his drawing board in April, you may remember Senator Smith Wildman Brookhart, a Progressive Republican whose 1924 election win was overturned by his fellow Senators almost a year and a half after Iowans had cast their votes. The Republicans in the majority decided that they would rather add Daniel Steck to the Democratic minority than continue suffering Brookhart in their own caucus.

Brookhart, wielding an axe on the left in Darling's cartoon, immediately announced that he would challenge Iowa's other Senator, Republican Albert Cummins (with the sword in the foreground). Darling includes a third Republican candidate, Howard Clark, a banker who offered himself as a compromise candidate.

"Why Good Men Don't Go In For Politics" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, June 6, 1926

The leading two candidates ran a bitter race for the time. The incumbent campaigned on a motto of "Cummins or Communism”; Brookhart complained that a railroads bill Cummins had co-sponsored benefited Wall Street at farmers' expense.  

"Well, Now Where To" by Ed LeCocq in Des Moines Evening Tribune, June 8, 1926

When the sun came up after election day, Brookhart had bested the rest of the field, winning just over 50% of Republicans' votes. (Senator Cummins died the next month at age 75; attorney David Stewart was appointed to serve out the remaining months of Cummins's term.)

"Hoeing His Own Row" by Bill Sykes in Life, June 3, 1926

Brookart's victory was widely seen as a rebuke to Republicans and the Coolidge administration for shelving the McNary-Haugen Farm Relief Bill, a central theme of Brookhart's campaign. Responding to a post-war drop in the price of American farm crops, the bill's sponsors, both Republicans, proposed having the federal government buy a set amount from farmers to sell at a loss.

"He Don't Know Nothin' About Hosses" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 9, 1926

McNary-Haugen was opposed by laissez-faire business interests, predominantly in eastern states, as costing money, involving the government in business, and encouraging farmers to reduce production. Big business and the railroad magnates further objected to the bill's endorsement of farmers banding together in cooperatives to negotiate commodities price levels.

"Now, Consarn Ye, Don't Go Hog-Wild" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 10, 1926

Smith Brookhart's primary win was another in a series of rebukes by the party faithful to one aspect or another of Coolidge administration policies. 

"Lotsa Pep" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. June 12, 1926

Brookhart, by the way, was a staunch advocate of Prohibition, although cartoonists overlooked that aspect of his election; Cummins and Clark supported it, too, and Coolidge was pledged to enforce it. Prohibition, rather than agricultural subsidies, had been the dominant issue in the primary elections in Pennsylvania in May (we visited them here). 

But now Quaker State Republicans had a new issue.

"The Biggest Parade Yet" by Jesse Cargill for Central Press Assn., ca. June 16, 1926

Reflecting new electioneering methods of the 20th Century, campaign spending on the Pennsylvania primaries prompted congressional hearings in June, as it was revealed to have reached levels unheard of to that date. 

Jesse Cargill's cartoon recalls the previously unprecedented spending by Republican Truman H. Newberry in his 1918 primary race against Henry Ford for Michigan's Senate seat. Newberry's conviction for having spent ten times the maximum legal amount of $10,000 allowed under the Corrupt Practices Act was overturned by the Supreme Court, on the grounds that the federal government had no authority to regulate partisan primary elections. Newberry ended up resigning from the Senate in 1922, anyway.

"Late Primary Returns" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 16, 1926

Nelson Harding rests this cartoon on the actual dollar amounts reportedly spent by the Republican gubernatorial and senatorial candidates. If they seem almost quaint today, I'd note that they dwarf Mr. Newberry's expenditures to insignificance.

Adjusted for inflation, the 2026 amounts would be $20,885,171 by Pepper-Fisher, $11,221,269 by Vare-Beidelman, and $3,668,864 by Pinchot.

"And They All Chipped In" by Rollin Kirby in New York World, ca. June 28, 1926

While a main focus of the Pennsylvania primaries was on the issue of Prohibition, Rollin Kirby did not spare criticism of the Manufacturers Association. (It should also be noted that the majority of Gov. Gifford Pinchot's campaign expenditures came from his own very deep pockets.)

And since we're updating earlier History Tour stops...

"Not Very Neighborly" by John T. McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, June 11, 1926

The governments of Great Lakes states from Wisconsin to Ohio opposed a plan to connect Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River through Chicago's sanitary district canal. Arguing in its favor, the Chicago Tribune concluded that "it becomes increasingly difficult to find any motive behind their antagonism other than a great sectional selfishness."

"Among all the voices raised against the Mississippi valley waterway proposal, those of Michigan and Ohio have perhaps been the loudest. The Mississippi valley states are constrained to wonder whether it is entirely coincidence that Michigan and Ohio, are, of all the central western states, the most advantageously placed in relation to the St. Lawrence route to the sea, their ports of Toledo and Detroit standing at the head of Lake Erie, obviating the need of passing around the whole state of Michigan, as must ships from Illinois, Indiana, western Michigan, and Wisconsin ports.

"It seems strange indeed that Wisconsin, Indiana, and western Michigan are not with the Mississippi valley on the side of the waterway. ... Their natural route to the sea is by way of the Mississippi, not the St. Lawrence. The valley states search for their reason and find nothing but the Chicago diversion — a five inch lowering of the lake levels out of a total lowering of almost three feet."

"While Rip Van Winkle Snores" by Hal Donahey in Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 12, 1926

The Cleveland Plain Dealer countered,

"Advocates of the rivers and harbors bill now pending in the senate, which authorizes the improvement of the Illinois river and by clear implication recognizes the legality of Chicago's attack on the level of the lakes, try constantly to make it appear that opponents are opposed to a waterway from Lake Michigan to the gulf. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

"Every speaker representing the interests threatened by Chicago's continued extraction of water has made it plain that the fight of Ohio and other lake states is not against a lakes-to-gulf canal but is against a policy which for twenty-five years has been raiding the commerce of the lakes...

"This rivers and harbors bill as it passed the house over the protest of practically every member of the lake district, except those from Illinois, is almost a perfect example of pork barrel legislation."

In another editorial, the Tribune attacked what it called "the Ohio gang," which the Plain Dealer presumed meant diversion opponents Senator Frank Willis and Rep. Theodore Burton.

"For some years, Ohio has been the brat of the American family," the Tribune fulminated, "overfed and dirty. If Congress can't wash its ears and keep it in its place, the Mississippi valley will see that the effects are felt in Congress."

"You Can't Blame the Children" by Jesse Cargill for Central Press Assn., ca. June 19, 1926

Canadian editorial cartoonists who had weighed in against Chicago's lakes-to-gulf canal in earlier stops of our Graphical History Tour were silent on the U.S. Congress's Rivers and Harbors bill in June, distracted by other matters. We'll turn to their issues later this month.

"Liable to Get His Feet Wet" by Sam Hunter in Toronto Daily Star, June 11, 1926

Although Sam Hunter did take a moment to keep Toronto readers apprised of that Iowa senate primary.

Asking Our 51st State to Go with the Flow

There has been renewed interest on the internets over comments Trump made at in California last September, promising the state "more water than you ever saw" if he were elected: 

"Donald Trump suggested there was a 'large faucet' up North that could solve all of California’s water needs for its cities, its farms and to wet down its forests so they don’t burn so fierce.

"'You have millions of gallons of water pouring down from the north with the snow caps and Canada, and all pouring down and they essentially have a very large faucet,' Trump said on Friday [apparently referring to the Columbia River].

"'You turn the faucet and it takes one day to turn it, and it's massive, it's as big as the wall of that building right there behind you. You turn that, and all of that water aimlessly goes into the Pacific [Ocean], and if you turned that back, all of that water would come right down here and into Los Angeles,' he said."

It's exaggeration or hyperbole to suggest that Trump's remarks mean that he thinks that, because water flows downhill and Canada is above the United States on a standard map, water would naturally flow from Canada to California. But there is much that he doesn't know that he doesn't know, and elementary physics is on that list.

"The Battle of Lake Michigan" by Hal Donahey in Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jan. 15, 1925

But you were expecting a Graphical History Tour today, so by Gosh and Golly Alrighty then, you shall have one. 

"The Precocious Boy" by Arthur G. Racey in Montreal Daily Star, Jan. 5, 1925

A.G. Racey at the Montreal Daily Star had plenty of reservations about Canadian cooperation with United States water usage plans. 

I've lived most of my life near Lake Michigan in an area where PublicWorks Departments are acutely aware of international waterway issues. The subcontinental divide between the Great Lakes basin and the Mississippi River basin is less than ten miles from Lake Michigan around here, so water-thirsty projects that straddle that line such as Racine extending water and sewage service to the FoxConn factory practically in my back yard require approval from all the states and provinces bordering the St. Lawrence Seaway.

The divide runs through the city of Chicago. In 1900, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal opened between the Chicago River (which flowed into Lake Michigan) to the Des Plaines River (which ultimately flows to the Mississippi). The canal reversed the flow of the Chicago River; complaints that Chicago was ignoring agreements with the Army Corps of Engineers to limit the amount of water diverted from Lake Michigan in order to carry sewage down the Des Plaines date from 1907.

In January, 1925, the Canadian government and the Great Lakes Harbor Association formally protested to the U.S. Congress and the Secretaries of War and State against the city of Chicago. At the same time, the dispute reached U.S. Supreme Court in Sanitary District of Chicago v. United States.

"It's Up to You" by Sam Hunter in Toronto Star Weekly, Jan. 17, 1925

The U.S. Senate heard testimony from freighter captains that water levels in the Great Lakes were lowering as a result. "The water is diminishing over the whole chain of lakes all the time," skipper Edward Fitch of Cleveland testified, adding that his ship's routine load had to be cut from 500,000 bushels of wheat to 425,000 to enable it to make harbor. 

Chief of Army Engineers Brigadier General Harry Taylor told senators that Chicago's water diversion had lowered Lake Michigan and Lake Huron water levels by 5.8" (14.7 cm), Lake Erie by 5.52" (14 cm) Lake Ontario by 5.76" (14.6 cm), St. Clair River by 4.8" (12.2 cm), and the St. Lawrence River by 8.52" (21.64 cm).

I went through Chicago Tribunes for the month of January to check whether its editorial cartoonists had anything to say about the controversy. I found one cartoon by Carey Orr coming to the Windy City's defense.

"Waiting to Cross" by Carey Orr in Chicago Tribune, Jan. 7, 1925

Returning Chicago sewage to Lake Michigan — where White people were allowed to swim! — instead of letting the Des Plaines River carry it to the Gulf of Mexico meant that the federal government would require Chicago to construct a sewage treatment plant. The lame-duck Congress, in session until March 3, deferred any legislation until the next Congress took office, but the new sewage treatment plant would be begun in due course.

I believe that Dearborn in Orr's cartoon refers to the mouth of the Chicago River where Fort Dearborn (destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire) had been located. As far as I've been able to determine, there was nobody by that name in Cook County government in 1925.

"The Dog and the Bone" by A.G. Racey in Montreal Daily Star, Jan. 9, 1925

We noted last month A.G. Racey's opposition to Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover's proposed "Super Power Project" to deliver electricity generated at the St. Lawrence River "across the line" to the U.S. eastern seaboard. 

"Don't Worry, John" by A.G. Racey in Montreal Daily Star, Jan. 10, 1925

"Don't Worry, John" suggests that Racey's alarm was not shared by Canadian financiers (and perhaps governmental officials in Toronto?) willing and eager to cooperate in Hoover's Super Power Project. Racey took a dim view of other deals with Canada's southern neighbor as well, here accusing them of being disloyal to John Bull.

"An Easy Sucker" by A.G. Racey in Montreal Daily Star, Jan. 15, 1925

Racey's Uncle Sam put on a lot of weight between his January 5 editorial cartoon and this one a mere ten days later.

"Greedy American Super Power Interests" tempt the Canadian sucker with "Pretense of cheaper grain carriage rates" from a can of "Enlarged St. Lawrence Waterway Bait."

"Paging the Man with the Wad" by A.G. Racey in Montreal Daily Star, Jan. 27, 1925

The Super Power Project would be blocked February 21 by the opposition of Ottawa and Quebec. Mr. Canada's newspaper, however, lists other sources of friction in U.S.-Canada relations, such as a long-standing Canadian resentment against forestry deals which, Racey charged, favored the Yanks.

In closing, I'd just like to caution the incoming Even More Corrupt Trump Administration not to screw up the amicable relations that our country and Canada have ironed out over the century since these cartoons were drawn. We've come to agreements on water and hydroelectricity and forestry now, and everything is hunky dory between us resource-management-wise.

Well, almost everything. 

Knocking Out 1924

Welcome aboard today's Graphical History Tour! You’re just in time to bid a fond farewell to the year 1924.

"Knock Out" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, Dec. 28, 1924

Some farewells to Old Man ’24 were fonder than others. Arthur Johnson, for one, was quite happy to see the old year go. German economic, domestic, and foreign affairs had actually begun to look up in 1924, but you couldn't convince Michel Q. Bürger of that any more than you could argue the same to today's electorates.

Instead of replacing it with a larger font, I've kept the caption to Johnson's year-end cartoon just as it originally appeared on the cover of Kladderadatsch. At the time, captions in German were always printed in Fraktur style font; foreign words, in this case "Knock Out" being borrowed from English, were printed in a Roman style font.

“Neujahr in Paris” by Hans-Maria Lindloff in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, Dec. 28, 1924

RHans-Maria Lindloff twits Mme. Marianne over French authorities' arrest of 60 Communists in Paris in December. The existence of French communists shouldn't have come as a surprise to anybody, really. Every country in Europe had its own cadre of reds loyal to the Commintern — Germany, birthplace of Marx and Engels, included.

Besides, the U.S. had shipped hundreds of American communists to Russia after the Great War, few of whom spoke any Russian. Surely some of them would have drifted westward to more fashionable and temperate cities by 1924.

"I Guess I'll Call It a Day" by James Donahey in Cleveland Plain Dealer, Dec. 31, 1924

On this side of the Atlantic, Republican-leaning Hal Donahey was fairly satisfied with the events of 1924. Father Time's ledger for the year included a recently completed round-the-world airplane flight by an American crew, the transatlantic flight of the ZR-3 Zeppelin, "better business confidence," the election of Calvin Coolidge as the 30th President of the U.S., and a "greater desire for world peace." Meanwhile, "LaFollette movement" lies in the waste bin of history.

"A Review of 1924" by Charles H. "Bill" Sykes in Life, New York, Dec. 25, 1924

Bill Sykes's two-page summary of the year for Life magazine covered just about every major news story of the year except for the murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb (the "Crime of the Century," and the basis for Hitchcock's "Rope").

Sykes added to Donahey's list the death of Woodrow Wilson, the conclusion of the Teapot Dome investigation, the Dawes Plan for Germany's reparation payments to the Entente allies, the two U.S. major party national conventions, a civil war in China, rising prices of wheat and corn, a visit to the U.S. by heir to the British throne Prince Edward, British suppression of a revolt against England in Egypt, a U.S. income tax cut, and rapprochement between Soviet Russia and France. 

And in the center of the second page, Sykes noted that the "prosperity" spoken of by Republicans had yet to fill the stockings of "Everybody."

Having now covered all the news that was fit to sketch, let's turn to the funny papers.

"Polly and Her Pals" by Cliff Sterrett for Newspaper Feature Service Inc., Dec. 31, 1924

Prohibition was now in its fifth year, so some folks such as Polly and her pals, who might have longed for the days when one rang in the new year with a glass of bubbly, made do with alternative libations instead. 

"Andy Gump" by Sidney Smith for Chicago Tribune Co., Dec. 31, 1924

If Polly's Pals had to make do with hypnotic suggestion for their holiday merriment, Andy Gump was able to partake of the real sauce.

The hooch came from his wife's Uncle Bim, the mustachioed fellow at the table, who had saved a carton of spirits since 1912. In spite of having vowed to himself to remain "as dry as the Congressional Record," Andy put on quite a show for the New Year's Eve party he arranged. He would renew his broken vow the following morning.

"That Guiltiest Feeling" by Clare Briggs for New York Tribune, Dec. 31, 1924 

As for the law-abiding citizens eschewing the devil's brew, you may be wondering how they passed the time without it. I've run across several cartoons toward the end of 1924 remarking on the brand new crossword puzzle craze sweeping the nation (you might remember John Knott's from my Thanksgiving weekend post). Clare Briggs seems not to think highly of the puzzles.

"The New Year Puzzle" by Oscar C. Chopin in San Francisco Examiner, Dec. 31, 1924

Here's a typical crossword puzzle reference from the editorial page. I don't think Oscar Chopin quite grasped how crossing words actually works.

"What's the Trouble Here" by Harrison Cady in Life magazine, Dec. 25, 1924

This Life magazine cartoon doesn't have anything to do with the old or new year, but perhaps it explains Mr. Briggs's beef with crossword puzzles.

It's a good thing he wasn't around to witness Sudoko and Wordle.

"Toots and Casper" by Jimmie Murphy for King Features Syndicate, Dec. 31, 1924

Returning to the comics page: if boozing it up wasn't an option for everyone on New Year's Eve, an enthusiastic tradition of noise-making was certainly available. You can make out a few noisemakers at Toot's party; banging on pots and pans was an option almost anyone could afford.

Just stay clear of Mother's favorite cast iron skillet, if you know what's good for you.

"Keeping Up with the Joneses" by Arthur "Pop" Momand for New York Herald, Dec. 31, 1924

I had not been familiar with the work of Arthur Ragland Momand (1887-1987), or with the practice of taking one's New Year resolutions to one's lawyer.

Following through on Al McGinis's annual resolution could have resulted in a breach of contract with his creator, the premise of Momand's entire strip being his efforts to keep up with the Jones family. "Keeping Up with the Joneses" ran from 1913 to 1938, so I'll have to find out how the Joneses and McGinises kept up during the Great Depression.

Here's a strip you're more likely to remember:

"Little Orphan Annie" by Harold Gray for Chicago Tribune, Dec. 31, 1924

Harold Gray paused Little Orphan Annie's story to recap the year — perhaps as a favor to any newspapers taking the day off or picking up the strip anew. The day's installment serves as a reminder that there was a Mrs. Daddy Warbucks.

"Little Orphan Annie" debuted on August 5, 1924; and yes, it was Mrs. Warbucks who first brought Annie home from the orphanage — but with no intention of letting her stay at the Warbucks estate. Mrs. Warbucks sent Annie back to the orphanage or simply kicked her out onto the street several times in the early years of the strip, only to have her husband retrieve or rescue the girl after returning from his frequent business trips.

"Gasoline Alley" by Frank King for Chicago Tribune, Dec. 31, 1924

"Little Orphan Alley" wrapped up its 86-year run in 2010; but "Gasoline Alley" is still with us, as is 130-something-year-old Walt Wallet, heading his five-generation family. Its present cartoonist, Jim Scancarelli, gave fans a start earlier this year when he introduced a plot line that seemed to portend the end of the strip. It turned out instead that politicians at city hall within the strip planned to update the name of Gasoline Alley, and the extended Wallet clan banded together to stop the change.

At the end of 1924, Walt was the single father of a three-year-old who had been abandoned on his doorstep, so I don't know whether he had been invited to Mr. Wicker's New Year's Eve party. Little Skeezix had a nursemaid, Rachel Brown, a Black woman who presumably had no personal life outside of the Wallet household; thus I assume Walt would have been free to go ring in the new year with the boys.

Or perhaps he was overjoyed to stay home with the boy.

After all, he had already taken him to another party in Sunday's comic.

"'Cap' Stubbs" by Edwina Dunn for George Matthew Adams Service, Dec. 31, 1924

"Cap" Stubbs and his buddies joined in the noisemaking in Edwina Dunn's strip. Do you think Grandma actually let him run loose on the streets at midnight?

I'll close out our farewell to 1924 with Winsor McCay's final Sunday episode for the year of Little Nemo in Slumberland — with my apologies that I can't present it to you in the size Mr. McCay intended for it, or in color. I invite you to embiggen these as your device will allow, and imagine the colors as best you can.

"Little Nemo in Slumberland" by Winsor McCay for New York Tribune, Dec. 28, 1924

When the Nation Kept Its Cool

The American people spoke loudly and clearly on Election Day, November 4, 1924.

"The Avalanche" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Nov. 5, 1924

The outcome wasn't even close. Incumbent President Calvin Coolidge garnered 54% of the popular vote to John W. Davis's 29% and Robert LaFollette's 17%. The Electoral College map was just as lop-sided; Davis won only Oklahoma and the states of the Confederacy minus Kentucky; Coolidge won 382 Electoral College votes from almost everywhere else.

"Touchdown, Game's All Over" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Nov. 5, 1924

Darling, or whoever wrote the headline for his morning after cartoon, didn't understand football very well if he thought that it only takes one touchdown to win a football game.

Or perhaps he was predicting the current overtime rules.

"They Still Have the Wagon" by J.N. "Ding" Darling for Register and Tribune Syndicate, Nov. 5, 1924

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial attempted to explain the Coolidge landslide, placing some of the blame on the ridiculously long nomination fight at that summer's Democratic Party convention:

"The selection of [Charles] Bryan [as vice presidential nominee] aroused all the opposition to William J. Bryan and gave the Republicans the opportunity to make Bryan, instead of Davis, the target of attack. The Bryan nomination started the drive of the business element into the Coolidge camp.

"The La Follette movement completed the drive. It turned out to be a futile thing, but it served as a red menace to turn the drift of business towards Coolidge and Dawes into a panic.

"The La Follette ticket, which drove the business element to Coolidge, drew large elements of the labor vote from the support of Davis. The labor vote that it did not draw it confused and disorganized. ...

"The Ku Klux Klan helped the Republican ticket effectively. Democratic klansmen in every state knifed Mr. Davis. The McAdoo followers, who were opposed to the naming of the klan [in the party platform] and bitterly disappointed by the defeat of McAdoo, were resentful, if not bitterly hostile, to the Democratic candidate."

"I've Just Begun to Fight" by Clifford Berryman in Washington (DC) Evening Star, Nov. 6, 1924

In his syndicated cartoon, Darling agreed with the Post-Dispatch editorialists as far as attributing some of Davis's loss to Sen. Robert LaFollette; Berryman pointed out, however, that LaFollette came out of the election with only the Electoral College votes of his home state.

"Hardly So Much as a Grease Spot Left" by William Hanny in Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 6, 1924

Nevertheless, LaFollette led the vote in several counties in midwestern, plains, and west coast states. In statewide results, he came in second, ahead of Davis, in California, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North and South Dakota, Oregon, Wyoming, and Washington state. 

"I Thought It Was a Whale" by James "Hal" Donahey in Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nov. 5, 1924

Had their 74 electoral college votes gone to Davis (in no state in which LaFollette came in third was his total more than the difference between the Republican and Democratic totals), it still wouldn't have been enough to tip the election away from Coolidge.

Incidentally, Cleveland Plain Dealer front-page cartoonist Hal Donahey's brother Alvin won reelection as Governor of Ohio. Hal had drawn several cartoons boosting Alvin's campaign and lambasting his Democratic opponent, but restrained himself from drawing a cartoon to crow about Alvin's victory.

As for Democratic- and Progressive-leaning cartoonists, most turned in "Ain't We Glad It's Over" cartoons for the day after the election and quickly moved on to other topics. One exception was Thomas E. Powers.

"I See by the Papers" by T.E. Powers for Star Co., ca. Nov. 7, 1924

"I See by the Papers" was one of Powers's regular features for William Randolph Hearst's Star Company, in which he typically whipped off three to six mini-cartoons on topics of the day. Powers chose not to dismiss the election results as quickly as some other critics of the Republican Party, and he here took note that the stock market reacted enthusiastically to Coolidge's election.

"Out of the Workers' Reach" by O.P. Williams for Star Co., Nov., 1924

Others in Hearst's stable took a more sour grapes view of the stock market delirium. 

20-20 hindsight affords us the knowledge that before long, the stock market balloon would burst. By then, however, Coolidge would have retired to Northampton to write his memoirs.

"The Republicans Win" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, Nov. 5, 1924

Down in Dixieland, James Alley was another disappointed Democrat.

Up north of the border, Montreal Star cartoonist Arthur Racey offered his own explanation of Coolidge's victory, and the only one of these cartoons that got a chuckle from me during this bleakest of weeks:

"The Sphinx" by Arthur G. Racey in Montreal Star, Nov. 5

Before we leave the 1924 election behind, there is one more third-party candidate to consider.

Loyal visitors to this blog will recall that two years earlier, Sydney Smith's cartoon character Andy Gump was elected to Congress (at least in the comic strip) but lost to his rival in a recount. In 1924, Gump set his sights on the highest office in the land.

"The Gumps" by Sydney Smith for Chicago Tribune Syndicate, Nov. 5, 1924

This time around, he should have kept a closer watch on his campaign manager.