The Price of Liberty (1885)
Two clever ideas to pay for her pedestal
Two satirical cartoons lampooning the inability of the US to finance construction of the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. These were published in April and May of 1885, as fundraising was under way. (details below)
Above: Construction of the pedestal could be financed by selling ads.
It shows the Statue festooned with ridiculous advertising from ”Silker the Hatter” to "Suredeath" Cigarettes and Dr. Lugs' Corn Frightener (Near Liberty’s toes).
Note: The title refers to the statue’s designer: French sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi.
Above: Construction of the pedestal could be financed out of the proceeds of police corruption.
Lady Liberty has been replaced by a policeman holding aloft a cornucopia overflowing with coins and carrying a book of "Broken Rules & Regulations of the Police."
The pedestal below him is occupied by all manner of illegal operations: opium joint, sucker's dive, dance house, policy game, etc.
The view shows Blackwell's Island (now Roosevelt Island), site of a 19th century prison and "Lunatic Asylum," labeled "Blackwell's Summer Resort."
Background: Most Americans today know our iconic Statue of Liberty as a gift to the nation from the people of France. The French made it clear that they would design and produce the Statue itself, but that it was for the Americans to find an appropriate site and to finance and build the pedestal on which it would rest.
Although France began work on the Statue in the early 1870s, financing the construction of the pedestal encountered a number of obstacles in the U.S. In part, because money for public projects was hard to come by in the years following the Civil War.
When Bartholdi's work was completed in 1884, the U.S. had not raised the funds for construction of the pedestal. Work was suspended, and the Statue remained in France.
Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World, was enraged by the inability of the government to fund construction of the pedestal.
In March 1885, he established a drive to raise the final $100,000 (about 2.7 million 2016 dollars) and promised to publish the name of every contributor.
When the paper began to print the notes received along with the contributions, the drive became a notable success, and raised sufficient funds to complete the pedestal in April 1886.
Need more Lady Liberty?
The Awakening: Women Fight for the Vote (1915)
The most striking of the "suffrage maps," which played a major role in the successful fight for women's suffrage in the U.S. Illustration shows a torch-bearing female labeled "Votes for Women", symbolizing the awakening of the nation's women to the desire for suffrage, striding across the western states, where women already had the …
Noxious Growths in Liberty's Grounds (1885)
Uncle Sam - Hello, Puck, are you “up in a tree?” Puck: No, but you will be if you don’t clear this stuff out pretty soon! Illustration shows Uncle Sam and a female figure identified as Liberty strolling through a park among trees labeled "Equal Rights, Free Press, Free Schools, Free Speech, Free Ballot, Constitution, [and] Religious …
Title: Let the Advertising Agents Take Charge of the Bartholdi Business, and the Money Will be Raised Without Delay.
Source: Puck
Collection: Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection: ID 1091.01
Creator: Opper, Frederick Burr
Date: April 8, 1885.
Title: Bartenders' Statue of License Lightening New York
Source: The Judge
Collection: Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection ID 2125.01
Creator: McCarthy, Daniel
Date: May 23, 1885
God forbid they pay their fair share of taxes, but corporate sponsorship of national monuments could be a way to keep Social Security and Medicare solvent.