The Old Print Shop

That Garland has Slipped. His Various Channels of Usefulness in Public Trust - Are at an End!

  • ARTIST: Thomas Nast

  • PUBLISHER: Published by Harper's Weekly. February 15, 1886.

  • MEDIUM: Wood engraving,

    DATE: 1886.

  • EDITION SIZE: Image size 11 3/8 x 8" (28.8 x 20.4 cm).

  • DESCRIPTION: Augustus Garland sits in his chair, blinded by his garland headdress. He listens into the telephone receiver, which is illustrated as a serpent. The telephone is labeled "Influence" and "Stock," and written on the wall above it is "The telephone paradise corner." Hanging beside his chair, on the left, is a net full of "Stock." <br><br> In 1885 Garland was given the prestigious position of Attorney General, but it wasn't long before he became entwined in a political scandal. He had been given a significant amount of stock in the Pan-Electric Telephone Company while serving as a senator the year before and was largely unaware of the company's intentions for doing so (as depicted through the garland over his eyes). Shortly after acquiring his new position, Pan-Electric asked him to overturn the telephone patent granted to the Bell Telephone. It was a race for recognition. The Bell Company had submitted their patent first, but the Pan-Electric company hoped their influence in the government, acquired by handing out stock, would aid them in thwarting their competition. Garland refused, but the Solicitor General approved the lawsuit while he was away on vacation. The apparent conflict of interests was discovered and it created a scandal that would carry on for nearly a year. Garland plead his innocence, rid himself of the tainted stock and told the owner of the Pan-Electric Company that the business should be dissolved. In the end, the business caved and Garland retained his job until the end of Grover Cleveland's presidency.

  • ADDITIONAL INFO:

  • CONDITION: Good condition, save a few soft creases around the center fold on the left.

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