The Great Quackery "Combine" on Its Travels
From Puck (New York, 1887)
Charles J. Taylor, American, 1855 - 1929. Printed by J. Ottmann Lithographing, Puck Building, New York, 1885 - 1890.
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In an attack on Henry George (1839-1897) and his colleague Father Edward McGlynn (1837-1900), the two social reformers are depicted as itinerant quacks using their wagon as a lecture platform to little effect. Widely known for his controversial single tax theories, George was one of most famous men in the United States in the nineteenth century, surpassed in public acclaim only by Thomas Edison and Mark Twain.
Father McGlynn, the hugely popular pastor of Saint Stephen's Catholic Church in New York City, backed George in his unsuccessful bid for mayor of New York in 1886. As a result of his unrepentant socialist activities, McGlynn was excommunicated by the Vatican in 1887, although he was reinstated in 1892 and was able to preach at George's funeral in 1897.