[An exacting housekeeper] - Public domain scan / drawing

President Grover Cleveland busily sweeps dirt from the front door of the White House. His back is turned toward an angry Columbia, who castigates him for ignoring a garland labeled "Stock Tele[-]" lying beneath a tall cabinet.
No copyright information found with item.
Published caption reads: "The reason you have this position is on account of your reputation for not leaving any rubbish like this around in dark corners."
Signed, lower left: Th: Nast.
Title from Harper's weekly.
Bequest and gift; Caroline and Erwin Swann; 1974; (DLC/PP-1974:232.1118)
Nast's drawing refers to a scandal in President Cleveland's cabinet involving his attorney general Augustus H. Garland and the patent rights to the telephone. As a senator, Garland was given stock in and named attorney for the Pan-Electric Telephone Company which owned a telephone patent similar to that of Alexander Graham Bell. By promising that their patent did not infringe upon Bell's rights, Pan-Electric encouraged prospective investors to finance their company. In 1884, soon after being appointed U.S. Attorney General, Garland was encouraged by his fellow stockholders at Pan-Electric to annul the Bell patents by bringing suit on behalf of the United States government. The suit was viewed by the public and especially the press, as benefiting Pan-Electric stockholders like Attorney General Garland and not the United States government as implied by federal officials. The cartoon appeared in Harper's Weekly, which called for the immediate resignation of Garland, while criticizing President Cleveland for ignoring the situation, especially after basing his 1884 election campaign on the policy of restoring integrity to government.
Published in: Harper's Weekly, March 20, 1886.
Exhibit loan 4207-L.