The Monopoly brothers supported by the little consumer

Attention is focused on "The Monopoly Brothers," ten rotund figures representing trusts, high tariffs, political graft, and a coal strike. Nine of them are balancing on the shoulders of a consumer standing in a circus ring. The tenth man, the "coal strike" prepares to join the balancing act. President William Howard Taft watches the performances, seated beside a giant sheep labeled "Schedule K," a reference to the tariff on woolens for which he failed to support a downward revision. United States Senator Elihu Root also looks on from the sidelines. In the foreground of the ring, Theodore Roosevelt marches as a Rough Rider with a sword, leading a procession of six supporters represented by Powers's stock characters of Gloom. He turns around to see Governor Chase S. Osborn of Michigan jump on the "Taft Band Wagon," deserting his troops. An orchestra comprised of six Gloom figures play in the orchestra pit before the ring.
Inscibed below image: 7 little governors all in a mix one got cold feet and then there were six.
No copyright information found with item.
Signed, lower left: TE Powers.
The cartoon is one in the series entitled, "Tom Powers's The-yater."
Bequest and gift; Caroline and Erwin Swann; 1974; (DLC/PP-1974:232.522)
The reference to the seven governors represents a formal letter sent to Roosevelt by governors William E. Glasscock of West Virginia, Chester H. Aldrich of Nebraska, Robert P. Bass of New Hampshire, Joseph M. Cary of Wyoming, Chase S. Osborn of Michigan, W.R. Stubbs of Kansas, and Herbert S. Hadley of Missouri, requesting him to run for a third presidential term, and Osborn's alleged defection as a supporter, later in the campaign. Root was a leader in the opposition to the recall, a proposal put forth by Theodore Roosevelt to reform the judiciary, responsible for impeding the progress of legislative reforms by interposing numerous legal objections.
Published in: New York American, April 2, 1912.
Exhibited: Corcoran Gallery of Art, "The Great Game of Politics," 1972.