The caption reads:
"Trimming
the Pampered Darling. Mr. Taft:--Stop Kicking! I might cut your head
off!"
Puck April 7, 1909
The suggestion of this Democratic
cartoon was that the protective tariff fostered privilege, against the American ideals of
equality.
When President Taft suggested trimming the tariff's high duties in
1909, his Democratic opponents poked fun at him.
This cartoon suggests that the
protective tariff is a spoiled brat, fattened on "hold up profits" that hurt
workers and consumers.
Taft's efforts to revise tariff
duties downward in 1909 backfired politically. The result of tariff
"reform" in 1909 was enactment of the Payne-Aldrich tariff,
which
continued to impose high duties.
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