Frederick Burr Opper - Alice in Plunderland - C.1921 - The Traction Trusts
Artists: Frederick Burr Opper (All) , FB Opper (All)
50 Views - 3 Comments - 2 Likes
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DescriptionI am always glad to add another Frederick Burr Opper political cartoon to my collection, especially if it's one of his later pieces like this one. I'm especially thrilled to add one of his Alice in Plunderland panels to the collection.Opper tended to work in series for his political cartoons. Freeneasy Film Co. may be his best known series, but he also drew Nate and His Night Riders, Sammy and his Pals (related to Uncle Sam), and a number of others, including Alice in Plunderland. Alice in Plunderland had two runs for Opper, all dealing with the powerful Trusts of the period. His first series ran in 1903. He revived Alice in Plunderland in 1921, updating it for new battles with the Trusts. I have not been able to locate a published version of this piece, but it's fairly safe to assume that it's from 1921, when the governor of New York, Nathan Miller, was pushing through a bill which would take away the power from elected officials when it came to subways and trolleys, giving it to a board controlled by the Traction Trust. The Traction Trust was a powerful and corrupt lobby of the time, who helped put politicians in power for favors. In Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane", one of the headlines in the early newsreel shows Kane railing against the Traction Trust. You'll note Miller's poem on the right side, mentioning the "eight cent fare". Citizens protested against the fare increase, who saw this as a money-grab. At the lower right of the cartoon, you'll see the White Rabbit who portrays the "Fare Payer". Alice is represented in the lower left corner as "The Common People". That little figure was often Opper's representation as such, though he would appear in different attire. Sometimes a barrel. While researching this piece, I ran across and interesting article from 1903, criticizing Opper's work since he began working for Hearst a few years earlier. This appeared in The Daily Nonpareil on January 28, 1903. The paper was located in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Interestingly, the article referred to Opper as Frank instead of Frederick, shooting a bit of a hole in their veracity. Ah well. That article is in the Additional Images section. Social/Sharing |
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Marcus Wai 
Member Since 2005
1 - Posted on 12/4/2025
Always great to see the corrupt exposed as the predatory animals that they are. Long standing comic traditon to dehumanize them and what they do.
Miki Annamanthadoo
Member Since 2003
1 - Posted on 12/5/2025
I love the words he coined- Guzeeks, umptyroodles - a nice tribute to Lewis Carroll! :-)
I waa going to add roaration but I saw it was an obsolete word that went out of use in the 1800's and Opper dug it back up!
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