But it was probably the enthusiastic support of
this class which turned the scale in New York in the presidential
election of 1884.
In the national conventions of that year, there was an unusually
small amount of factional strife. In the Republican convention,
President Arthur was a candidate, but party sentiment was so
strong for Blaine that he led Arthur on the first ballot and was
nominated on the fourth by a large majority. In the Democratic
convention, Cleveland was nominated on the second ballot.
Meanwhile, his opponents had organized a new party from which
more was expected than it actually accomplished. It assumed the
title Anti-Monopoly and chose the notorious demagogue, General
Benjamin F. Butler, as its candidate for President.
During this campaign, the satirical cartoon attained a power and
an effectiveness difficult to realize now that it has become an
ordinary feature of journalism, equally available for any school
of opinion. But it so happened that the rise of Cleveland in
politics coincided with the artistic career of Joseph Keppler,
who came to this country from Vienna and who for some years
supported himself chiefly as an actor in Western theatrical
companies. He had studied drawing in Vienna and had contributed
cartoons to periodicals in that city. After some unsuccessful
ventures in illustrated journalism, he started a pictorial weekly
in New York in 1875.
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