With all this — his cartoon, his frequent visits "upstairs" to see what
the wires were bringing, his long and eager talks with associates, the corres-
pondence with admirers (and cranks) — his days were full. This made
him happy. There were to be no more wanderings. He was satisfied with
the privilege, enjoyed every morning, of facing big tasks to be done before
evening. And at evening, perhaps remarking, ' ' Well, I 'm afraid to-morrow's
cartoon won't set the world on fire," he would put on his undistinguished
overcoat and hat and go away into another world.
THIS private world of his had come to be peopled, in his late middle
age, with a wife and four children who entirely absorbed him. He
hated to be away from them even for an evening; so that he dreaded long
journeys without them, and rarely accepted a social engagement.
During his second Evanston residence he had met Miss Agnes Smith,
daughter of the Rev. Daniel F. Smith, who founded St. Luke's Episcopal
Church, in Evanston. Miss Smith enjoyed outdoor life and many other
things that Mr. Bradley liked. She became his friend, then his betrothed,
and in October, 1901, they were married. Their first months of married
life were passed in a tent on the shore of a lonely bay of Catalina Island,
where they reveled in their wild surroundings. One morning, for example,
they were awakened by the blowing of whales and rose to see the water
of the bay black with the great creatures which were disporting themselves
18
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
there. Tent life did not end for them until the rattlesnakes came out at
the end of winter and insisted on sharing their living quarters and drinking
water from the same spring.
On returning to Chicago Mr. and Mrs. Bradley lived in Evanston for
some years, but in 1909 they built a home in Wilmette, on the lake shore.
There are four children: Francis, John Freeman, Sarah Elizabeth, and
Margaret.
In Wilmette were passed what must have been Luther Bradley's most
precious years. He was up there on a blufif, where Lake Michigan, perfect
semblance of the sea, greeted him morning and night. It received him
placidly at bathing time, — and his "season" ended only when his bathing
suit fairly froze to the sand. He had a fine, long walk from the railroad
station — an excellent bracer in zero weather, just like old times. And
he grew a flower garden, and built a summer house, with stairs of rock up
the cliff. And he helped the boys to put up a Httle clubhouse down near
the beach. In front of this he laid out a tennis court. And the lake, as
though grateful for his tenancy, "made" land for him until his beach was
increased eastward by hundreds of feet.
There, after his hair became gray, he revived his boyhood pleasures,
and romped with a company of admirers more congenial and outspoken
than those who praised his cartoons: the children, both his own and the
neighbors. Tennis, swimming, skating, boating, football, campfires on
the beach, a thousand "days of real sport."
Of all the tributes he received, give me the one spoken by a little boy,
a newcomer thereabouts, who after skating one day with Luther Bradley
and a group of shouting sprites, remarked,
"Who was that big gray-haired feller? Say, he's a real feller!"
EARLY in January, 191 7, his physique, so remarkably sustained, sud-
denly seemed to give way. He felt tired, and could not understand
why. He would "soon be all right." Several times he had recovered from
19
LUTHER DANIELS BRADLEY
long and severe illnesses, one of which took him into the very face of death,
and proved to him that he did not fear death. -He remained home, this week
of January, to rest. It was pleasant to be there, among the children, just
after Christmas. Still, he felt imeasy about staying away from his desk.
Word came to the office on Tuesday, January 9th, that he would "report
without fail Thvu-sday." But that Tuesday evening, before anyone thought
he was definitely ill, a fatal seizm-e laid hold of him. And there in his
lakeside home, he died as unobtrusively as he had lived.
HENRY J. SMITH.
30
F I N I S 1 1 I N ( â– .
II. DAYS CARTOON
Luther 1). Bnullt-y as l\v AjJiKari'd at His Desk in The ('hicai^o Daily Xcu'S Office
1 Uy Clyilc T. Hrnwii, slaflf |ihciluj;riipluT of Tlie i'lnnigo Daily .\ctvs\
BRADLEY AS A CARTOONIST
THOUGH the word "cartoon," as used to designate certain kinds of
satirical drawings, has strayed far from its original meaning, it has
achieved in its present uses an adequate definition which the public profit-
ably may bear in mind. That effective instrument of the artist turned
satirist, "must always figure," according to an authority, "as a leading
article transformed into a picture." It is, in short, an editorial expressed in
line. By this rule, then, should be judged the cartoon, properly so called.
By this rule the work of Bradley's brain and pen invariably measures true.
To the writer, whose privilege it has been for more than twenty years
to confer almost daily with some cartoonist of proved ability or of excellent
promise while the latter was developing the idea which was to take pictorial
form under his skillful hand a few hours later, it is a pleasure to record here
the belief that, like Abou Ben Adhem, the successful producer of cartoons
loves his fellow men. It follows that he is continually seeking for truth
and not in the mood of jesting Pilate. This may serve to explain why the
older term "caricature," which sufficed to describe, for example, the tre-
mendously effective brutalities of Gillray and Rowlandson in Napoleon's
day, cannot be applied with entire propriety to the work of enlightened and
conscientious artists of the present, who make pictures which are leading
articles. Truth if caricatured becomes a lie. In the successful cartoon
everything may be distorted except the truth.
Bradley had a high respect for his art and for his position as a teacher
through his art. He was a student of cartooning, historically and other-
wise. It was a soxirce of satisfaction to him that as an American cartoonist
he had among his predecessors men of such strong convictions as Paul
Revere, Thomas Nast and Joseph Keppler. He had no patience with
milk-and-watery cartoons. Whatever came from his pen had to deliver a
message of no uncertain kind. Any idea which could not prove itself
worth while when roughly sketched out in half a dozen pencil strokes was
31
LUTHER DANIELS BRADLEY
straightway banished as unworthy. He took an honest pride in the fact
that he did not have to fall back on makeshift or second rate ideas when he
squared his elbows above his drawing board for the day's work. At that
particular moment he was far more likely to find himself suffering from an
embarrassment of riches in the form of many inviting subjects for treatment
than from a dearth of ideas.
WHEN he joined the staff of The Daily News Bradley was already a
cartoonist of experience, having won notable success in Melbourne
and having worked on other Chicago newspapers for several years. After
he became the head of the art department of The Daily News, with general
supervision over a considerable staff of artists and photographers, he
attended to the many details of executive management along with his daily
task of conceiving and executing a cartoon. Up to ii or 12 o'clock each
day his mind was busy with ideas for possible cartoons in the midst of the
distractions of other duties. These ideas he would sketch out in the crudest
way with a soft pencil, each rudimentary cartoon on its own sheet of ordi-
nary rough paper. With the penciled sheets, usually numbering from three
to half a dozen, he would come to my room, usually a little before noon,
and we would talk over these ideas and perhaps other ideas would be
developed.
Questions of clearness, appropriateness, vigor, unity and timeliness
would commonly arise and often there was a choice to be made among a
number of acceptable subjects. Frequently several different methods of
treating the same subject would be considered and each would be sketched
out in pencil or rearranged on the sheet with a few swift strokes by Bradley
in the course of the conversation. The fertility of Bradley's mind, enriched
by much reading of history, biography and other substantial works, and
broadened by travel and observation as well as by thought which had
produced in him strong convictions, was continually in evidence at such
times. I frequently said to him in our discussions that I conceived it to be
BRADLEY AS A CARTOONIST
my part to assume the role of devil's advocate, suggesting possible weak-
nesses in ideas that were up for consideration, flaws in deductions from given
facts, points of seeming injustice to men or measures and such other features
of the cartoon in embryo as might be entitled to consideration before
the picture began to develop under his careful pen. As a conscientious
man he entered heartily into this trying-out process, engaging with anima-
tion in the task of weighing ideas and possible methods of treatment. The
caption for the chosen cartoon was given equally careful thought in order
that in few words it might clarify the meaning of the picture. Often,
however, there was nothing for me to do at these conferences except approve
some admirably clear and vigorous sketch which presented a timely subject
with the vividness of a lightning flash. It was not uncommon for this man
who seemed to think in pictures to present a veritable sheaf of sketches,
each relating to a different subject and all so good that he was speedily
invited to choose from among them the one which made the strongest
appeal to himself.
THE questions most commonly debated in these daily meetings were,
first, "Is this a true and just presentation of the case?" and secondly,
"Will the average newspaper reader readily catch the point in the pic-
ture?" Unless these questions were affirmatively answered there was no
chance of the artist's choosing to develop the idea. He was incapable of
compromising with his convictions, but he was always ready to consider evi-
dence tending to show that his convictions were wrong. Always looking for
good causes to help, he frequently expressed the desire to "strike a blow"
for this or that. In a world with so many wrongs to be combated he had
no patience with frivolous subjects for cartoons. He took his talent too
seriously, he took life too seriously, to waste his time on littlenesses. He
was eager to attack any piece of injurious folly or any social tendency
indicating deterioration of the mental, moral, or physical fiber of Americans.
Cartoons of the type of the one in which he contrasted the sturdy boy of
23
LUTHER DANIELS BRADLEY
an earlier generation trudging to school through snowdrifts with the languid
stripling of to-day stepping into an automobile and saying, "School, James,"
gave him particular pleasure.
A consistent enemy of individual and national flabbiness, he rejoiced
in honorable achievement of every sort. For the great men of the past
he had a particular reverence. The birthdays of Washington and Lincoln
seldom or never passed without his drawing lessons from their lives for the
profitable consideration of the people of to-day. For Roosevelt he had an
unwavering admiration and he never grew weary of depicting that virile
American in the act of doing some strenuous thing or other. This big,
gentle hearted artist dearly loved also to pictvire women admonishing their
husbands on matters of public duty or serenely setting them right when
they were in the midst of some wrongheaded action typically masculine.
He believed that women commonly had a finer, truer sense in matters of
social service than had men, and he championed their cause effectively by
expressing in many ways his conviction that as a rule they were no less clear
of vision than pure of purpose in dealing with public affairs. On behalf
of children, misunderstood at home or mistreated anywhere through poverty
or neglect or the barbarities of war, he was always ready to fight in flaming
indignation.
When the European war broke out Bradley, in the full enjoyment of
his ripe creative power, turned with passionate energy to the task of depict-
ing the gigantic criminality of militarism. The scathing indictments which
he drew against it were reproduced in publications throughout the world.
Their remarkable merit brought him wide fame and soon he was proclaimed
by many the greatest of American cartoonists. From the earlier war car-
toons ^ such as the one entitled "The Harvest Moon," showing a skull-
shaped luminary pouring its rays down upon an illimitable plain covered
with corpses — to the last three or four of the wonderful series, including
"Just Another Little Fellow," showing the slender corpse of stricken
Roumania over which the ponderous wheels of war has just passed —
24
BRADLEY AS A CARTOONIST
they met with wide recognition as masterpieces of the cartoonist's art.
Bradley's life went out suddenly but peacefully while his creative power
as an artist was at its height. In taking him death ended the career of a
devoted champion of goodness, simplicity, and gentleness, of progress and
truth.
Charles H. Dennis.
as
(Verse* written by Luther D. Bradley when he was in college, and published in Frank Leslie's Monthly)
THE LEGEND OF THE WINDOWS
"For who hath despised the day of small things"
At length upon the crowning towers were placed
The topmost stones, and the cathedral fair
Rose in its carven beauty, interlaced
With wreathed flowers and arches light as air;
And with its wise, majestic oriel faced
The rising sun, and seemed as standing there
Worthy, almost, an offering to be made
To Him who once was in a manger laid.
Dense vines and branches cluster round its base,
Dark, seamed and weather-stained, while further
on
Green mosses cling ; then for a little space
The stones are bare, and further, one by one
The lines drawn by the years still mark the place
Where toiled each life until its sands were run;
The tide-marks left by generations spent
Rearing the glory of this monument.
And he whose lot came last was striving now
To add the final grace, that ere the day
When they should rear upon the pavement low
The sacred altar, all that marble gray
Might with new, myriad-tinted sunbeams glow;
And there where now the shameless daylight lay,
Thro' his rich window's softened air might fall
A halo o'er that holiest spot of all.
With lavish hands he wrought the colors rare,
High screened among the traceries of stone;
And as the glittering fragments here and there,
Fell from his hand while toiling on alone,
A young apprentice gleaned them up with care,
And half afraid and to the rest unknown.
Wove them in figures strange, and all unseen
Fixed them behind a vacant window's screen.
And as these two thus labored on, at last
Came that great day whereon to consecrate
With ceremonial high and prayer and fast,
This holy church; came dignitaries great,
And priest and prelate in procession passed,
With incense sweet and perfume delicate,
And moving down the flower-strewn pathway's
bloom
Entered the dim cathedral's sombre gloom.
And the proud master stood exultingly.
To mark when they should on the altar gaze,
The flaming glory of his window see,
And smiled within himself at their amaze
To think that such the work of man could be;
Then the low-breathing organ softly plays.
And as its throbbing voices fill the air.
All kneel upon the marble floor in prayer.
But when again they rise all eyes are turned,
Not where the eager master's loved to dwell —
Where high amid the pointed arches burned
The colors that his hand had wrought so well,
But to that comer which his pride had spumed —
Where softly now a mellow radiance fell,
So beautiful that his fierce pride of heart
Vanished before the glory of his art.
Upon no sacred cross its light is thrown,
But the worn pavement and the crumbling tomb
Are flooded with a glory all their own;
While the vast shadows of the chancel loom
Dim 'round that place of light, as shadowed down
Over that greatest tragedy the gloom
That veiled the grief, the anguish, the despair,
But not the love divine that suffered there.
And the robed prelate turned, and smiling, said:
" 'T is strangely beautiful, and it were meet
Rather that to such scene our steps were led,
To bow ourselves low at the Saviour's feet,
And as we pray behold that thom-crowned head,
Than 'mid yon blazoned throng and incense
sweet;
For ne'er too oft do we when kneeling down,
For thought of that sad cross forget the crown."
Burst forth the master, "Father, 'tis but nought;
'T is only from the meanest fragments made
That fell from out my hand there as I wrought;
There is the altar, see the saints arrayed
In colors of the light, and gold, I thought
To touch them with a lustre ne'er to fade."
But on the youth who stood with low-bowed head
The father, turning, laid his hands and said:
"From thy low place thou hast above us all
Risen and taught us; may'st thou ever be
With such small fragments as thou seest fall
Ready to labor long and patiently,
Knowing that so a voice one day will call
And say, 'Well, done,' and thou as here shall see
Thy works of worth and fair. Our lesson brings
Us this: Scorn not the day of smallest things."
L. D. B.
36
CARTOONS
With the exception of the AustraHan Cartoons, all those in this collection were
published in The Chicago Daily News. The date of publication is
given in each case below the picture.
TWO AUSTRALIAN CARTOONS
Sir Graham in Harness Again
'Hands Across the Sea"— A Memory of
the London Dock Strike
[These cartoons, which appeared in Melbourne Punch about 1889-90, are published here as samples of
the work Luther D. Bradley was doing at that period of his career. The subjects treated have, of course,
no savour of the present day. "Sir Graham," represented as having broken down on the road, was Sir Graham
Berry, agent general in London for the colony of Victoria. He was seemingly no favorite, politically, of
Melbourne Punch. The other cartoon refers to the strike of dock laborers in London in 1889. Workingmen of
Australia contributed large sums to the cause of the strikers.]
29
AND NOW TO PUT AN END TO THE WAR
[Mr. Bradley's First Cartoon In The Chicago Daily News]
Let Us Merely Leave Our Surplus Celebrating Material Where the Contumacious
Savages Can Capture It
(July 5, 1S99)
30
BANE AND ANTIDOTE
Pass a Law Requiring Publishers of Poison Literature to
Attach a Back-action Corrective Appliance to Each Volume
(Sept. 7, 1899)
31
A CHRISTMAS ANTHEM
:^
v^ V
[ At this time the siege of Ladysmith, during the Boer war, was in progress.
(Dec. 23, 1899)
32
A HOT SUMMER AHEAD FOR THE
WORLD — IN THAT RIG
^%^^^i
^5i>
(Feb. 25, 1904)
IF HE IS A WISE LAMB
He Will Come As Above
(March i, 1904)
33
CHEEK
~y<<^'" - -. .-iiii'j/i'"'^*^'
Vrtll^"." -
Soft Coal: "Shake, neighbor, I'm one of you!"
Hard Coal: "Ah, there, Morgan! Take this rude fellah out and throw him back into
the $4 class, where he belongs!"
(Oct. lo, 1902)
34
JUST WHERE THE PAPER TORE
(Dec. 14, 1903)
35
HE YIELDS HIS SUPREMACY
[Inspired by the disaster to the steamer Gen. Slocum, June 15, 1904, when 958 persons were killed)
(June 17. 1904)
36
ISN'T IT TIME SHE HAD A NEW DRESS?
I "Miss Chicago" in the patchwork of a dress she had outgrown was the Bradley way of expressing the
need of a new charter for Chicago. This cartoon was reproduced widely and used as campaign material
by the charter amendment advocates in 1904. It brought home with force the antiquated system of gov-
ernment llie city was forced to " wear."]
(Aug. 17, 1904)
37
SHE'LL HAVE HER EYE ON YOU
â– *#l
Chicago (When the Time Comes): "Do I Get That New
Dress or Don't I?
[Note. — She got it; that is, the amendment was carried. The later develop-
ments are fresh in the minds of most readers)
(Nov. 4, 1904'!
GOOD BUSINESS
Three Wars and a Presidential Campaign Brouglil
Prosperity to the Campaign Liar
(July 13, 1 000)
REVISED TO DATE
(Sept. 3, 1904)
THE HEATHEN HEAR THE CHRISTMAS CHIMES
39
IF CLAY PIGEONS, WHY NOT CLAY MEN?
Could Not the Humane Instinct That Has Saved the Birds Save the Human Beings?
(Sept. 6, 1904)
40
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF-ONCE MORE
ACROSS THE DELAWARE
Strange That After So Many Years the Public Enemy Still Finds a Lurking Place
in New Jersey
fFoh. 22, 1005)
THE ADVANCE (?) OF CIVILIZED WARFARE
(Sept. 26, 1916)
4>
THE SPIRIT OF '76 DOWN TO DATE
£^ ^>
With Apologies to the Creator of a Famous Painlin}.
(July 3, 1905)
42
LOST OPPORTUNITIES OF HISTORY
Chorus of Early Americans: '•Don't Take Him Abroad and Hang Him! Think
What a Beautiful United States Senator He Would Make!"
(July 13. 1905)
«
THE LESSON
^
[ Inspired by the death of Marshall Field |
(Jan. 19, 1906)
44
NOW TOTEST THE SAFETY RAZOR
World: "I Haven't Much Faith in These New-Fangled Fixings, but Anything
to Keep Down the War Crop"
(June 17, 1907)
HISTORICAL SURE THINGS
•■•y«f*'f»«««»
'd\.iUc/rc tsrOT
â– Z,:
S.jgl I running fb Wall SC
.•^ '■;
*>*
"^.j,' *- â– __<, \~
c
i.s-
AS THE WOMAN SUFFRAGIST SEE'S IT
Voice at Door: "May I Help"?
The Overlord: "Avaunt! Man Alone Has the Capacity for These Great Affairs!"
(Feb. 1 8, 1907)
CONGENIAL SPIRITS
MEAN MEN*^
The Mean Men Held a 'Smoker' the Other Night at Which the New Member
Read a Seasonable Paper. Great Enthusiasm Prevailed." — Club Note.
(Nov. 20, 1907)
46
A DISTURBING POSSIBILITY
Stork: "Well, if folks prefer Teddy Bears I s'pose I'll
have to meet the demand"
(July 9, 1907)
47
THE DIRECT ROUTE
â– ^â– ^./
^^fS^finS" ^"^^^
Showing how People are "Railroaded" to the Penitentiary
(Jan. 2c;. 1908)
48
FOUR LITTLE CANDIDATES
HAVING LOTS OF FUN
.^ â–
^"
r"'^ _â– !
^1t
^^
iH 1 n
^:^iW
ALONG CAME A CYCLONE
AND THEN THERE WAS ONE
(Just before the Republican National Convention]
(May 1 6, igo8)
49
THE MAGIC RIVER
I Inspired by the death (it Mark Twain )
(April 22. 1910)
so
ROMANCE
THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN WRECKED
J^'^^
What if Romeo's Rival had Possessed a Motor Car
(Feb. I, 191 1 )
SI
THE SEASON OF INCONSISTENCY
Morning
Afternoon
(Oct. 4, 1909)
THE SEASON OF INCONSISTENCY
At Home Elsewhere
(Jan. 3, iqio)
KINDRED SPIRITS
,3'l^^!>5'i»-r
The Voyagers of the UnknowTi
(July 13. 1 9 10)
S3
IF YOU DREAD THE COMING STRAW HAT ORDEAL
Just Think what Poor King George has to go Through
( Occasion : Coronation of George V of England )
(May 22, iQii)
THE ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION
In THE OLD DAYS
She HAr> nothinC
TO MOLD OH TO.
>ri^ca%c:, 1
<r
BUT NOW SHE
HA5 A 5TRONO. ^
HANDY STRAP.
(March <>, 1Q14)
54
UNSINKABLE
(Inspired by the Sinking of the Steamer Titanic ]
(April 17, 19 1 2)
55
HATCHED
t/-'" ; 'â– ^'
m
I Nomination of Colonel Roosevelt on the Progressive ticket)
(Aug. 6, 1912)
THAT PROUD MOMENT
â– -, v^
THAT AWKWARD MOMENT SHEDDING THE
ULSTER
(March 21, 191 4)
THE EXPANSION OF CIVILIZATION
(Feb. 24, 1915)
57
WHO'S THE HAPPIER?
(July 9, 1914)
AS SUMMER APPROACHES WOULD ^OU LIKE
TO CHANGE PLACES WITH A BABY?
IF IT COULD ONLY BE LEFT TO THEM
(July 28, 1914)
GOOD NEWS FOR HIM
(July 29, 1 914)
59
OUT
(July 30, 1914)
60
z
o
o
>
<
X
X
H
^ '€tf ^ ■;^^- if)! f
"' ' ftr ''â– \''â–
M
^
6i
WON'T THEY BE EDIFIED!
(Aug. 4, 1914)
TOTAL ECLIPSE?
,,:• ,:^i!!(m7/*r V A ^^^,7/>r/l.■:^ ■j:-'";.^. ^r-A'- '^''C
(Aug. 27, 1914)
62
THE SELF STARTER WORKED ALL RIGHT
(Sept. 15, 1914)
MUST PEACE WAIT FOR THIS?
(Sept. 21, 1914)
63
THE TURKISH BATH
(Nov. 6, 1914)
ONE OF THE WAR'S LITTLE ECONOMIES
Vr>/1«.' \ ' ii I* ', V^^BK' ( ni-t trench' ^^i*^ V CT-*^ ^C>T //. . /N — ■■... i iT^
/me. 'am )jjC .N ' 'i
(part ^i££^' TT*^ ^V '^
64
AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE THAT
WOULD BRING ABOUT PEACE
(Nov. i6, 1914)