monopoly – Vulgar Army

Not Even-Handed Justice

“NOT EVEN-HANDED JUSTICE: Crushing the scorpion of anarchy but sparing the octopus of monopoly”, Artist William A. Rogers, published in Harper’s Weekly, January 21, 1888. (Snark: Seems kind of apt, given the Occupy movement and response to it. Some things don’t change.) Image source: Railroad Cartoons Home, http://sophia.smith.edu/~maldrich/topics/political_influence/1888harpersjan21.htm (accessed 12-11-2011)

Its Arms Work All Together Now

Another monopoly octopus from “drafts” folders with no information or notes. I think I may have poached it from Getty Images (just a hunch)… Circa 1920s.

The Curse of California

“The Curse of California” by G. Frederick Keller, published in The Wasp, 19th of August 1882, vol 9, No 316, pp. 520-521. Photo by Rick MacPherson of poster in Oakland Museum, California. This is only a quick overview for now. The Curse of California, Southern Pacific Railway. “Somewhere from within the blank mugs of those railroad barons (or […]

Protest poster from Frente Popular Revolucionario (FPR), Oaxacca, Mexico (circa 2008). Protesting against exorbitantly priced bus tickets. The text reads: ‘The bus company octopus has stolen my money! Organize and fight for a fair rate.’ Image Source: Ed Gillespie (7th Jan 2010), Slow Travel: How to buy cheap UK train tickets… (Accessed: 15 Feb 2010) Translation from: Slow Travel and Google Translate.

C.P Hunting as an Octopus (1896) by Jimmy Swinnerton was published in the San Francisco Examiner, December 14th 18961. The cartoon show an octopoid with trunk like limbs as a head of a bearded man, with C.P. Hunting (Collis Potter) written across its forehead. Huntington was a railway magnate and one of the “big four”2. Each of its […]

The cephalopod – terrestrial devil fish – a monster of centralization (?) (1873) This is the earliest cartoon (1873) in my collection of the octopus as a metaphor for an industry. The presence of the cave, and the timing1 would suggest an Victor Hugo influence. It also precedes the ‘burst’ of octopus cartoons in the1880s […]

Corporate Greed (1882) Cartoon published 27th June 1882 shows a large bulbous octopus sitting on top of a pile of crates and bales. The caption apparently reads: “Corporate greed octopus gobbles up freight for Great Railroad while unemployed handlers look on”1. Octopus head reads: “Corporate Greed. All for ourselves, nothing for the public”. The tentacles […]

Well, Brother, will you let the beast have your vote, too? (Bowles, 1894) Agricultural monopoly. Relates to the Alabama gubernatorial election in 1894. According to the image source (Alabama Department of Archives and History) this was run for Reuben Kolb who ran for the Populist Party. Kolb was defeated due to electoral fraud by the Democrats […]

Octopus of ‘Monopoly’ by John Tenniel published in Punch, or the London Charivai, November 3rd,1888. The octopus of “Monopoly” attempts to upset the boat of oar-wielding ‘Commerce’ (wearing the winged hat of Hermes or Mercury?). The octopus’s limbs are: ’salt’, ‘iron’, ‘copper’, and ‘cotton’. The boat is called: “Free Competition” (A case of ‘bad’ versus […]