A pro-Tilden fishing joke that accuses the Republicans of baiting voters with religion

An 1876 comic print published by P. Jesse of New York shows Tilden's side landing a full basket while Ulysses S. Grant advises Rutherford B. Hayes that "reform bait" has failed and he should try "an anti-Catholic worm."

What the print shows

Two banks of a stream, two fishing parties. On one side, Tilden and a companion have a basket full of fish. On the other, President Grant advises Hayes, the Republican candidate, whose bait is not working. Grant's advice is the title of the print, as the archive records it.

Grant to Hayes - I guess that reform bait wont work this side. Better try an anti-Catholic worm

Who made it

P. Jesse of New York published the print, and an artist who signed only "F. G." drew it. The archive classes the issuer as a business and dates the print to the 1876 election, while Grant was still president. It takes Tilden's side.

How to read it

The joke has two parts, and each is a charge. The first says the Republicans' talk of reform is only bait, and that voters have stopped biting. The second says the party's fallback is to stir up hostility to Catholics. The archive's record is careful here: the print attributes a sectarian appeal to the Republican campaign and offers no evidence for the charge within the image. A caption is not a quotation. The words are the artist's, put in Grant's mouth, not a recorded remark.

That matters, because the accusation is a serious one. Setting voters against a church runs against the equal standing that the free exercise of religion is meant to secure. If a campaign did that, it deserved to be named. The way to name it is with the speech, the pamphlet, or the platform plank, so readers can judge. This print offers a cartoon caption instead, which leaves it an unproven charge, even if some partisans did what it says.

The archive tags it for name-calling and bandwagon. The full basket is the bandwagon. Tilden's side is already winning, so join it. Eight years later another New York print shop, Puck, would use the same confidence on a different election.