Ice Cream, Ice Cream Everywhere, Nor Any Drop to Drink

"The Navy's First Lord Passes the Grog" by Edmund Duffy in Sun, Baltimore, May 31, 1926

I enjoyed the characterizations of a seaman and Navy Secretary Curtis Wilbur in Edmund Duffy's cartoon, so it gets to lead off today's Graphical History Tour. 

The U.S. didn't have army bases all over Europe during Prohibition, but recruits in the U.S. Navy got to take shore leave in ports where beer, wine, and liquor were sold like, well, beer, wine, and liquor.  

To combat naval inebriation, Wilbur authorized the sale aboardship of chewing gum and the like as something to replace the sailors' appetite for booze. In Duffy's cartoon, Wilbur is mollifying a tar with the offer of an ice cream cone —vanilla, of course — just the thing for a tar's night on the town.

"The Circus" by T.E. Powers in New York Evening Journal, ca. May 7, 1926

T.E. Powers correctly pointed out that the Republican Party platforms of 1920 and 1924 were solidly in favor of Prohibition. He overlooked, however, that there was still significant support of Prohibition within the Democratic Party, particularly in the deep South and the West.

"Something Bound to Happen" by Harold Talburt for Newspaper Enterprise Assn. ca. May 23, 1926

A bipartisan proposal to allow the manufacture and sale of less intoxicating beverages such as beer and wine had support among Americans who were not so devoted to complete and total abstinence. Liquor would have remained illegal under most versions of modification, with acceptable levels of Alcohol By Volume (ABV) in legalized libations set by the government.

A primary election in Pennsylvania may have been a bellwether of actual public sentiment on the Prohibition issue.

"A Soaking" by Ed LeCocq in Des Moines Evening Tribune, May 20, 1926

Philadelphia Congressman William Scott Vare won the three-way Republican primary race for Senator over Dry candidates Governor Gifford Pinchot and incumbent Senator George W. Pepper on May 18. Vare ran on an anti-Prohibition platform, charging that the Volstead Act was resulting in a police state, and blaming Prohibition for a 300% rise in alcohol-related crimes in Philadelphia.

"The Ship of the Desert" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 20, 1926

The Philadelphia Inquirer dismissed Vare's calls for relaxing, if not repealing Prohibition as a distraction from his well-earned reputation as a machine politician. Nicknamed the "Duke of South Philadelphia," Vare was cozy with gangsters Waxey Gordon and "Lucky" Luciano. The cartoons of its editorial cartoonist, William Hanny, while highly critical of Vare, were mostly predictions that voters would send him down to defeat. 

"And That's What Little Candidates Are Made Of" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, May 28, 1926

National cartoonists conveniently overlooked the other major race in Pennsylvania, to succeed Pinchot as Governor. John S. Fisher narrowly edged out former Lt. Governor Edward E. Beidelman, who, in his legal practice, was more closely associated with the Wet cause than Vare.

"The New Band Wagon" by Wm. Sykes in Life, May 27, 1926

Even at least one international cartoonist (albeit a half-American one) also took gleeful note of Pennsylvania's Republican Senate primary, and his cartoon graced the front page of one of Germany's leading satirical weeklies.

"Der Sieg de Nassen in Pennsylvanien" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, June 13, 1926

(Note: I've attempted to recolor some of Arthur Johnson's cartoon.)

There is a good chance that we shall return to Pennsylvania's Senate campaign in future Graphical History Tours, so let's not get ahead of ourselves there. Suffice it to say for today's purposes that Vare's plurality win encouraged a number of politicians elsewhere to voice their reservations against the Noble Experiment.

"Page Moses" by Gustavo Bronstrup in San Francisco Chronicle, May 29, 1926

But repealing — or modifying — a Constitutional Amendment was never intended to be an easy task. Any celebratory champagne toast would have to wait.

Chewing gum, anyone?

🍸

And so ends Graphical History Tour for another day. Be sure to check in again tomorrow for a much more recent editorial cartoon from your humble scribbler!

Flights of Frozen Fancy

This week's Graphical History Tour celebrates the 100th anniversary of the first flights over the North Pole by people who weren't puffins.

"Over the Top" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, May 11, 1926

U.S. newspapers excitedly reported that Admiral Richard E. Byrd became the first explorer to fly over the North Pole on May 9, 1926. Byrd and pilot Floyd Bennett announced that they had flown their tri-motor monoplane, the Josephine Ford (named after Edsel Ford's daughter) from Spitsbergen, Norway, circling the pole in a nearly 16-hour flight.

According to Byrd's account written for the New York Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"I took my calculations and found that we were at the Pole. We reached it at 9:04 Greenwich time, just about the hour we had hoped to get there. Bennett and I shook hands simply, and went back to the cabin, stood at attention and saluted for Admiral Peary. The Navy had reached the pole again, the blessed old Navy. I did not drop an American flag. Peary had done that.

"The ice and snow were similar to that which Peary had described, but the ice was not the same as in the polar sea. There it is in constant motion. It was slightly rougher here than it had been when I first described it, but criss crossed in the same way.

"We flew several miles further, circled and then took some still and motion pictures. As we flew there at the top of the world, circumnavigating it in a few minutes' of flight, I regretted that we had not found land, and that our leaky oil tank would prevent our returning by way of Cape Morris-Jessup."

"The Eagle Over the Pole" by Wm. A. Rogers in Washington Post, May 11, 1926

Byrd was an instant American Hero in the press, and editorial cartoonists rushed to crank out jingoistic cartoons, most of them very similar to each other.

"Our Private Flag Pole" by Roy James in St. Louis Star, May 11, 1926

Aside from the flags and eagles, a commonality that strikes me in these cartoons is that nearly all of them show North Pole as a huge inverted icicle, rather than the barber pole that I think of as cartoon cliché. This is only a guess, but the striped pole with the ball on top must have been popularized later.

"The First Over the Top" by John T. McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, May 11, 1926

John McCutcheon celebrated the news of Byrd's flight as a relief from all the dismal news he was typically faced with — although by bringing up political scandals, wars in Morocco and Syria, labor strife in London, a riot in Paris, and a rum-running ring in New York, McCutcheon was being the wet blanket at the party himself.

"The Hurdle Race" by Dean O'Dell in Dayton Daily News, May 13, 1926

Meanwhile, Norwegian aviator Roald Amundsen was also heading for the North Pole in a semi-rigid airship christened the Norge. The Italian-made airship was delayed by weather on each leg of its journey from Rome, but eventually headed north from Vadsø, Norway on May 11 with a crew of 18 men and one dog.

"Fremdenverkehr" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, May 30, 1926

The Norge crossed the North Pole at 1:25 a.m. GMT on May 12, dropping U.S., Norwegian, and Italian flags onto the ice. In Amundsen's account published by the New York Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"[W]e went down to a low height, slowed the engines, and [engineer/financier Lincoln] Ellsworth, [pilot Umberto] Nobile and myself dipped our countries' flags. We mounted banners on steel-pointed rods. These rods we steered vertically into the ice as we dropped them, and they remained standing. The crew took their caps off during the ceremony, and it was a beautiful sight to see the flags standing against the glittering snow."

I have colorized the flags in Arthur Johnson's cover cartoon; the copy scanned by the University of Heidelberg appears to have faded considerably. His version of the Norwegian flag somewhat resembles the obsolete Norway-Sweden union flag, except that the faded blue broken bar that I have darkened ought to be yellow, and a black cross in that quadrant of the flag is missing altogether. 

The airship, its propellers damaged by shards of ice during its flight, suffered further damage as it landed at Teller, Alaska. It was dismantled there, short of its announced goal of Nome, and shipped back to Italy; it was never repaired.

"Die 'Norge' Zurück" by Wilhelm Schulz in Simplicissimus, Munich, June 7, 1926

Wilhelm Schulz lampoons Italy's involvement in the flight of the Norge, and perhaps the fate of the airplane itself, depicting an expedition member presenting Benito Mussolini with a helmetful of melted ice. 

Italian hubris over its part in the journey was a valid target for satire. Somewhat contrary to his newspaper account, Amundsen was peeved that the Italian flag dropped at the pole by Nobile was larger than the Norwegian and American flags, and that Nobile continued to drop so many other flags that Amundsen later complained of Nobile turning the Norge "a circus wagon of the skies." Mussolini sent Nobile on a speaking tour of the United States to tout the genius of Italian engineering, putting Amundsen's nose further out of joint.

"Amundsen am Nordpol" by Oskar Garvens in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, May 30, 1926

In German cartoons, at any rate, Amundsen was the star of the show. Berlin cartoonist Garvens gave us something other than an inverted icicle at the north pole: some sort of pepper-, nut-, or coffee-grinder.

As for the caption, it must be a play on the name of Admiral Byrd. My best, albeit wild guess is that un-byrdlich might be a pun on unberührt, untouched; while that might explain the open tin and the eaten sardines, that cactus remains a mystery.

"Another of the Great Silent Places Opens to the Tourist" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, May 11, 1926

"Ding" Darling's cartoon makes a similar point for us English-speaking readers. The aviators in the cartoon have left behind not just empty sardine tins, but also empty Uneeda Biscuit boxes, a spent campfire, and graffiti on the pole itself, while planning to "bring the folks up here some day for a picnic."

"Men Must Be Men to Wrestle with Me" by Ernest R. McTaggart in Vancouver Daily Province, British Columbia, May 15, 1926

I am duty-bound to point out that the general consensus since Admiral Byrd's death in 1957 is that he could not possibly have flown his trimotor monoplane, with its maximum speed of 85 mph, from Spitsbergen to the North Pole and back in sixteen hours. 

There is evidence that his flight records were erased and modified. Yet even though doubts of Byrd's claims were raised not long after he landed, he was still awarded the National Medal of Honor and celebrated with a New York ticker tape parade.

Take a Bite Out of Krim

The Graphical History Tour is waiting to take you away to September of 1925, where we find France and Spain launching a new offensive against the Rif rebels in Spain's Moroccan territories.

"Madame Fiasko" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, Sept. 6, 1925

Johnson's cartoon hinges on wordplay in German, blending "Geh' ab" (go away) with the name of Rif leader Abd-el-Krim.

In 1925, Abd El-Krim's Riffian guerillas controlled roughly three quarters of Spanish Morocco. Styling himself to the outside world as President of the Republic of Rif (Al-Jumhūriyyah al-Rif), el-Krim, he was popularly known as mujāhid (war leader). He had set up a functioning government and a cabinet which employed no small number of his relatives.

"Bei Abd El Krim" by Friedrich Heubner in Simplicissimus, Munich/Stuttgart, Sept. 21, 1925

I'm rather confused by this German cartoon, which appears to me to depict German tourists asking Abd el-Krim, a Moroccan Berber, where to find Turkish concubines. 

The cartoons in the satirical Munich weekly Simplicissimus in the middle of the 1920's seem to have steered away from explicitly political commentary in favor of light jokes about societal stereotypes (the lovable drunk, the lothario, the hausfrau, the ingenue, etc.). Although Abd El-Krim spent some time during World War I in prison for expressing German sympathies contrary to Spain's official neutrality, that doesn't appear to be relevant to Heubner's cartoon in any way.

"The Jolly little Game of Tossing the Pancake" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. Sept. 19, 1925

I'm also not familiar with this game of tossing the pancake of which Dorman Smith speaks. Yeah, you bake pancakes by flipping them, but what's the game? Seeing which one of you can catch it?

I guess the game is to see how high you can toss the pancake without it landing on the floor. There must be some military equivalence there that explains why Spain and France were having so much fun with it.

In any event, France and Spain launched a new offensive in September of 1925. Spain landed 18,000 troops at Alhucemas Bay, while 20,000 French soldiers marched into the Spanish protectorate from the French-controlled south.

"Another 'Contemptible Little Army'" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, Sept. 29, 1925

According to modern estimates, Edmund Duffy overestimates Riffian manpower; Encyclopedia Britannica puts the Moroccans' forces around 13,000 men. Just the same, the Riffians overran the French front line positions in the initial stages of the offensive.

"Abd-el-Krim" by Edward Gale in Los Angeles Times, Sept. 26, 1925

El-Krim's forces won several initial battles, justifying Gale's depiction of the armored hands of France and Spain having so much trouble catching a tiny fly.

Those hands could still swat, however, and that is how the game would end.

"Can't Pay for the Old War" by Daniel Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 21, 1925

At the same time as the Franco-Spanish offensive, French Finance Minister Joseph Caillaux was in Washington to present the French counterproposal for repaying its World War I debts to the U.S., a debt American cartoonists were impatient to collect.

"One Can Carry this Business of Bluffing Too Far" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. Sept. 25, 1925

Elsewhere in the Islamic world, Turkey sought to reclaim Mosul, in the north of present-day Iraq, from Great Britain.

"Another Explosive Situation" by Morris for George Matthew Adams Service, ca. Sept. 30, 1925

There is very little mystery as to Mosul's importance to the British Empire and the Turkish republic. Until the opening of the Suez Canal, Mosul was once a vital trade post between Europe and the Middle East on one side and India and China on the other. Since then, the major powers have had a keen interest in the region's oil.

"The Old, Old Story" by Orville Williams in New York American, Sept. 26, 1925

The British assumed control of Iraq at the end of World War I, up to then a distinct region of the Ottoman Empire since the 16th Century, consisting of the three districts of Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra. Turkey claimed that Mosul was still under Ottoman control when the armistice ending the war was signed.

"They Tear Up Tickets in Europe, Too" by Cecil Jensen in Los Angeles Post, Sept. 30, 1925

Under the Treaty of Lausanne, the status of Mosul was left for the League of Nations to decide. In the meantime, the British had set up Faisal ibn Husayn as King of the three districts of Iraq, ruling under British mandate.

"Fact Versus Fiction" by Orville Williams in New York American, Sept. 30, 1925

Although Turkish-British disagreements did not erupt into armed conflict, the disputes over Mosul and Morocco offered plenty of ammunition to politicians, publishers, and editorial cartoonists who opposed U.S. participation in the League and any other international institutions.

Crime and Klanishment

Last month, our Graphical History Tour dealt with jay-walking and reckless driving in the summer of 1925. Today we focus on more serious criminal behavior of the time.

"The Life of the Tree Depends on Its Roots" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. August 4, 1925

Dorman Smith may have had the previous year's case of the Bobbed-haired Bandit in mind when he gave "maudlin sympathy for crooks" such prominent placement among the roots of crime. Sensational newspaper coverage of murder, robbery, and kidnapping led to a certain romanticizing of some criminals; we still remember Bonnie & Clyde, Dillinger, or Pretty Boy Floyd — or at least the movie versions of them.

Not to be overlooked are the other roots beneath Smith's tree, including "easy purchasing of arms," "crooked politics," "loose morals," and "weak judges."

"The Alienist" by John T. McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, August 22, 1925

Also coming for popular blame was the psychiatric profession — “alienists” — expert witnesses testifying for the defense. In a case grabbing nationwide attention, a Chicago jury found Russell Scott guilty of the murder of drug store clerk Joseph Maurer, only to have Superior Court Judge Joseph B. David rule that Scott was insane. Scott was then committed to a mental asylum.

"The Big Brother of Herrin, Illinois" by Billy Ireland in Columbus Dispatch, ca. July 5, 1925

When you hear Chicago and the 1920's, what comes to mind? I'll bet that gangland violence is high up on your list.

The Graphical History Tour has made several stops in Herrin, Illinois over the past few years. The southern Illinois mining town was notorious for its bloodshed over striking union miners and overzealous Prohibition agents in league with the Ku Klux Klan.

"Chicago As the Rest of the World Must Imagine It" by John T. McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1925

Chicagoan John McCutcheon's cartoon defended against the caricature of his city by Billy Ireland and others. The perception that Chicago was a hotbed of violence and illegal booze was however serious enough that the federal government was pressuring Chicago to crack down on crime. The Justice Department was particularly focused on quashing rum running, an especially lucrative organized crime business.

"Now They Are Drinking Furniture Polish and Shooting Each Other" by Daniel Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Aug. 10, 1925

Daniel Fitzpatrick pairs gangland violence and turf wars with injury and worse from amateur distillers. Bathtub booze, homemade hooch from wood grain alcohol or other legal substances not meant for human consumption, was the cause of increased blindness and death.

"Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief" by Daniel Fitzpatrick in Collier's, August 15, 1925

Disregard for Prohibition, now in its seventh year, crossed social classes.

The Feds showed less interest in another serious crime issue:

"How America Makes Criminals" by Leslie Rogers in Chicago Defender, August 22, 1925

Drawing for the Black press, Leslie Rogers cited lynch mobs getting away with murder, arson, and plunder when the victims were Black as inspiration for his cartoon criminal "believing that all criminals are protected."

The column running alongside Leslie Rogers's cartoon in the Chicago Defender further explained:

A comparison of the number of crime stories on the front pages of American and European newspapers is a terrible indictment of the United States. Statistics show that the city of Chicago alone has annually more holdups and murders than England and Wales put together.

From this there can be drawn but one conclusion: the present appalling prevalence of mob rule and lynching has bred wholesale disrespect for law and order. The fact that America is the home of lynching and mob psychology has much to do with her first place position in the crime line-up.

When a mob has lynched a black man, those who took part in this lawlessness are seldom, if ever, brought to justice. And should public indignation be aroused to the extent that an "investigation" seemed advisable, the result is always a verdict of "hanged by persons unknown."

That last quotation comes straight from the ruling that shut down investigation of a lynching in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. 

"Cant See for Looking" by Fred Watson in Baltimore Afro-American, August 22, 1925

The Afro-American had run a photograph of the lynching, attended by nearly 200 people, on its August 15 front page. An editorial accompanying Fred Watson's cartoon in its next edition provided details missing from the initial reporting:

Walter B. Mitchell was lynched by a mob in Excelsior Springs, Mo., last week on the charge of halting an automobile, beating up a white man and attempting assault upon his female companion.

Investigation afterwards proved that the white man attacked was in the cattle stealing business with Mitchell, and owed the later [sic] money. Mitchell stopped Utt's car and demanded his pay. They quarreled and fought. Utt was licked. His companion interfered. Mitchell threw her in the back seat and went home. Angered by the incident, Utt spread the talk about criminal assault and the mob got in its Ku Klux law enforcement.

"Better Watch Both Holes, Kitty" by Leslie Rogers in Chicago Defender, August 29, 1925

The Chicago Defender drew a straight line from Volstead Act enforcement to a lack of protection of Black American's rights to life and liberty:

Today we find the eye of law enforcement intently fixed upon the latest addition to the Constitution — the 18th or prohibition amendment. So concentrated are the efforts of the federal government upon apprehending the violators of this amendment that others more important, as far as national welfare are concerned, go unnoticed. 

The amendments receiving less attention of any are the 13th, 14th, and 15th. These three happen to deal with the citizenship and rights of 12,000,000 black people. Hence the enforcement of them is deemed unimportant!

"A Great Day" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, Aug. 9, 1925

Meanwhile, the Klan marched 35,000 strong in the nation's capital on August 8, 1925. Klansmen and women paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Washington Monument. Festivities were interrupted by heavy rain. 

Edmund Duffy's cartoon, above, ran on the Baltimore Sun's front page instead of its usual place on the editorial page.

Verdict of the Planet of the Apes

The Graphical History Tour has one more stop to at the Scopes Monkey Trial today. We've got exciting courtroom drama, a momentous verdict, and an unexpected twist at the end <Law & Order .wav>!

"The Monkey Hasn't a Word to Say" by W.A. Rogers in Washington Post, July 9, 1925

Given that President Coolidge, Congress, and the Supreme Court were all on their summer vacations, little Dayton, Tennessee became the center of the editorial cartooning world when the trial convened on July 10, 1925. Some cartoonists, such as Edmund Duffy, J.P. Alley, and Carey Orr, drew two or three cartoons per week about the trial.

After all, if there were only so many gags to be drawn about monkeys, the conflict between science and the Bible was a great source of inspiration — so too was the creationists' ardent defender William Jennings Bryan.

"The Volunteer Fireman" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 14, 1925

On the other hand, there were a few, for example Grover Page at the Louisville Courier-Journal, who did not produce a single cartoon about the trial during the entire month. I suppose that on this issue, Page might have had strong disagreements with his editors or publisher. Or his wife. 

"Fame" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, July 14, 1925

The Baltimore Sun — hardly a disinterested bystander, its publisher having put up the $500 (almost $9,200 in 2025 bucks) for teacher John T. Scopes's bail — sent their editorial cartoonist, Edmund Duffy, to cover the trial in person.

Courtroom sketches by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, July 16, 1925

In addition to his regular editorial cartoon, Duffy provided his newspaper with occasional sketches of the trial principals, witnesses, and by-standers.

"The Dayton War Cry" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, July 15, 1925

There is a rough, sketchy quality to Duffy's cartoons from Dayton. He didn't stick around to witness the second week of the trial; this next cartoon is more typical of his usual output.

"Let There Be Darkness" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, July 19, 1925

Cartooning for the prosecution, the Memphis Commercial Appeal's J.P. Alley defended his state's anti-evolution law and biblical inerrancy. 

"They Ought to Submit a Few 'Exhibits' to the Supreme Court" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, July 1, 1925

Alley correctly but disapprovingly noted that teacher John Scopes freely admitted having broken the law by teaching Darwin's theory of evolution, and that the defense's intention from the very beginning was to attack the law itself as unconstitutional.

I have noticed that all cartoonists gave John Scopes the title of "Professor," although those who drew him tended to cartoon the 24-year-old teacher diminutive and even childlike.

"4.4 Stuff" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, July 14, 1925

Here Alley twitted the out-of-state journalists and movie men descending upon little Dayton, Tennessee. Was the trial as disappointing as 4.4 ABV (alcohol by volume) beer? Alley may have been alone in that perception.

(4.4 ABV is light beer to you and me, but considerably more potent than the legal Prohibition limit of 0.5 ABV.)

"Darrow's Paradise" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, July 15, 1925

Tell us what you really think of "Dangerous Darrow," Mr. Alley.

"Her Bodyguard" by Carey Orr in Chicago Tribune, July 20, 1925

Bravely staking out the middle ground, Carey Orr (who started his cartooning career in Tennessee) offered a defense here of religious faith, but dismissed anti-evolutionists as being of any particular importance to it. We shall get to Orr's regard for its chief spokesman presently.

"Sweet Punishment" by Ed LeCocq in Des Moines Register, July 22, 1925

In the last days of the trial, Darrow cross-examined Bryan on the stand — testimony later stricken by Judge Raulston — and Bryan in turn announced the questions he would have posed to Darrow had the judge allowed it.

Pressed by Darrow, Bryan proclaimed that he believed every word of the Bible to be true, although he couldn't answer Darrow's question about where Cain found a wife, how recorded Chinese history could be millennia older than biblical estimates of the planet's creation, or how the snake got around before God condemned it to crawl on its belly ("Do you know whether he walked on his tail or not?").  By the time Darrow brought up the creation of rainbows, both he and Bryan were shouting and pointing fingers in each other's face.

Darrow answered Bryan's questions outside the court. He did not believe in miracles, he said; asked whether he believed in the immortality of the soul, he answered, "I have been searching for proof of this all my life... and I have never found any evidence on the subject." 

Responding to other questions, Darrow said he found "much that is of value in the Bible" but that it was not divinely inspired; and that "the Christ prophesied in the Old Testament was a great Jew who should deliver his people from their physical bondage, and nothing else." 

"The Verdict" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, July 22, 1925

In the end, Scopes was found guilty and fined $100 ($1,837 adjusted for inflation), which came nowhere near covering the cost of the trial. In addition to routine court costs exceeding $300 and hundreds more spent by the prosecution, Scopes's defense lawyers had spent $20,000 to $25,000 bringing expert witnesses to Dayton, some of whom were barred by Judge Raulston of ever offering their testimony.

"Will the Gun Hurt" by Michael E. Brady in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 26, 1925

"When Shall We Three Meet Again" by Ed Gale in Los Angeles Times, July 22, 1925

Emboldened by the Scopes verdict, fundamentalist legislators elsewhere proposed laws similar to Tennessee's. A government clerk, Lauren Wittner, brought suit in Washington D.C. against the teaching of evolutionary theory in the nation's capital on the theory that an appropriations bill passed by Congress forbade the district from using federal funds "to teach disrespect for the Bible." 

"Migrating" by Ed LeCocq in Des Moines Register, July 25, 1925

The question appeared destined to be argued all the way to the Supreme Court. Darrow, however, gave notice that he would not represent the evolutionists any further.

Which leaves us with William Jennings Bryan.

"A Chip Off the Old Block" by Carey Orr in Chicago Tribune, July 12, 1925

Bryan had been a prominent public figure for thirty years by the time of the Scopes Monkey Trial — a lifetime for some of the cartoonists our Graphical History Tour features today. Carey Orr, age 35 when he drew this cartoon, could therefore be forgiven for thinking that Bryan had been around since the Garden of Eden.

"Our Greatest Actor" by Carey Orr in Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1925

Or if not since Adam and Eve, Orr suggested, how about these other Old Testament figures?

"Any Port in a Storm" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 19, 1925

First elected to Congress in 1890, Bryan was the Democrats' presidential nominee in 1896, 1900, and 1908. He was Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson, resigning in protest of U.S. entry into World War I. An active proponent of Prohibition, he remained at his party's center stage during their years in the political wilderness.

"You May Not Be For Him..." by Billy Ireland in Columbus Dispatch, ca. July 26, 1925

"You may not be for him, but nevertheless, there he is," cartooned Billy Ireland as the Scopes Monkey Trial drew to a close. But suddenly, after thirty years on and off America's front pages, he wasn't.

"The Great Commoner" by Guy R. Spencer in Omaha Evening World Herald, July 28, 1925

Still in the town of Dayton, Bryan died on Saturday, July 26 in the home of Richard Rodgers, his host there during the Scopes trial. Bryan had given a stirring speech to townspeople that day, to great acclaim according to press reports. Telling friends that he had never felt better, he enjoyed a hearty meal and retired to his room for a nap. He succumbed to a cerebral hemorrhage around 4:45 p.m. and was discovered by his chauffeur about 20 minutes later.

"Onward, Christian Soldier..." by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, July 28, 1925

As one would expect, cartoonists who defended Bryan, such as Guy Spencer from his home state and J.P. Alley, responded to his death with heartfelt eulogies. Even some dyed-in-the-wool Republicans heaped praise upon the longtime Democratic leader ....

"The Crusader" by Bill Donahey in Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 28, 1925

"Epitaph for a Crusader" by John T. McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, July 28, 1925

...even if not necessarily for his politics.

"To the Highest Court of All" by Jesse Cargill for King Features Syndicate, ca. July 28, 1925

I have not included all of the cartoons eulogizing William Jennings Bryan, but I must note that many of the cartoonists who had been lambasting him just days earlier, opted in lieu of drawing something nice to draw nothing at all. Of the cartoonists included above, Nelson Harding appears to have left on vacation as soon as the Scopes trial was over. Edmund Duffy, Ed LeCocq, and Michael Brady devoted their work for rest of July to other topics.

Carey Orr had yielded the editorial cartoonist's space on Chicago Tribune's front page back to John T. McCutcheon, but he still had to produce a cartoon for syndication. So he doffed his hat and took a bite out of it.

"Sorrow in the American Home" by Carey Orr syndicated by Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1925

It has been an extra long Graphical History Tour today, and I thank you for reading this far. Please remain seated until the tour has come to a complete stop, and make sure you have all your personal belongings with you as you disembark.