Woodrow Wilson Priming the Prosperity Pump was by Clifford. K Berryman in 1914. The cartoon shines light on the Federal Reserve Act, which has garnered mixed opinions by scholars and historians since its inception. In order to understand this cartoon, it is important to understand the context of the times. The panic of 1910-1913 was a sharp recession that was triggered by many factors including a fall in exports and the presidential election. Production dropped and unemployment hit high levels in areas that were already struggling. “The primary purpose of the Federal Reserve Act of December 23, 1913, is to make certain that there will always be an available supply of money and credit in this country with which to meet unusual banking requirements.” While the Federal Reserve Act aimed to meet “unusual banking requirements” meaning the federal government assisting banks in cases of emergency, the general population remained highly skeptical of the big banks.
The cartoon depicts Wilson “priming the Prosperity Pump” with buckets titled, “Anti Trust Legislation,” “Currency Legislation,” and “Tariff Legislation,” into the pump labeled “Business Prosperity Pump.” In the cartoon Wilson is depicted to look somewhat silly, as the cartoon pokes fun at him, as any cartoon would. The purpose of the pump being labeled “Business Prosperity Pump” is the cartoonist playing into the public’s concern about the government supporting big banks.
One scholar writes, “Yet those who believed that, in consequence of this extended discussion of the subject, there would be a smoothing of the path for legislative action have found themselves profoundly mistaken… The currency and banking law of 1913 had to be pressed forward to a passage over the all but united opposition of those who had been engaged in the popularizing of ‘sound’ ideas on currency and banking.” This quote further exemplifies the fact that public opinion did not support the bill. This quote has an undertone of frustration, as it is from a journal by Henry Parker Willis, the first chairman of the Federal reserve act.
Clark Warburton stated, The major public consequence of Federal Reserve action in 1928 and 1929 was a stoppage of normal growth of the nation’s money and initiation of the monetary contraction which eventuated in the great depression and the banking crisis of 1933.” This quote directly places the blame on the Federal Reserve for the Great Depression. While this quote is from 1946, it still reflects the opinion of many during the time. Warburton’s overall point is that the Federal Reserve essentially choked the money supply, leading to the great depression.
Overall, this political cartoon, while it seems at first glance to be in support of Wilson, upon a deeper analysis it can be concluded that the cartoonist is making fun of Wilson. The primary giveaway is the label on the pump. Many individuals felt like the government was helping banks that were not helping them. The primary audience of this cartoon is the struggling Americans who were frustrated with the current state of their government. The ability of a cartoonist to speak on political issues without really “speaking” is extremely powerful.
Works Cited
[2] Willis, Henry Parker. “The Federal Reserve Act.” The American Economic Review 4, no. 1
(1914): 1–24. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1804981.
[3] Warburton, Clark. “Monetary Control Under the Federal Reserve Act.” Political Science
Quarterly 61, no. 4 (1946): 505–34. https://doi.org/10.2307/2144371.
[1] Sprague, O. M. W. “The Federal Reserve Act of 1913.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics
28, no. 2 (1914): 213–54. https://doi.org/10.2307/1883621.