- Date:
- 1886
- Original Format:
- Cartoon
- Item#:
- 22.185
"A Business Administration -- No Time for Nonsense"
This cartoon by George Yost Coffin (1850-96) is about Grover Cleveland and civil service reform. Cleveland sits at his desk with various papers, such as "Tariff Reform," "Chinese Question," and "The U.S. Navy." Men crowd his doorway. Each one has papers to bring to him, such as "Crank Scheme," "Grievance," and "Petition." One man's collar labels him as "Office Fiend," another man's hat labels him as "Bore." The sign on the wall reads "N.B. Call on a Man of Business, In Hours of Business, Transact your Business, Go About Your Business, And Leave him Time for his Business." Civil service reform was one of the predominant themes of Cleveland's first administration.