American Propaganda
Public office is a public trust: Democratic campaign banner no. 1, 1888 US poster: Banner-style sheet, "Democratic campaign

Public office is a public trust: Democratic campaign banner no. 1

Public Office Is a Public Trust, Democratic Campaign Banner No. 1 for Cleveland and Thurman

Democratic Campaign Banner No. 1 (1888) sets Cleveland and Thurman under "Public office is a public trust" and two tariff slogans. Public domain.

Techniques named on the archive record

Glittering generalitiesTransfer
Date
1888
Made by
Hitchcock's Steam Printing and Publishing House, New York
Medium
Poster
Country
United States
Regime
Cleveland Administration
Source
Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source
Library of Congress , retrieved October 2, 2026
Source
Public domain by age (published 1888); LOC rights advisory: No known restrictions on publication Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

Object, image, and catalog record from the FRAME archive. Text on this page is CC BY 4.0. Image rights are as the archive records.

Full record at propagandaarchive.org

Democratic Campaign Banner No. 1, printed in 1888 by Hitchcock's Steam Printing and Publishing House of New York, sets Grover Cleveland and Allen G. Thurman under an eagle with three slogans: "Public office is a public trust," "Unnecessary taxation oppresses industry," and "Reduce the tariff on necessaries of life."

The banner

Oval portraits of the Democratic ticket sit beneath an eagle. Two red banners carry the tariff slogans, and the motto that gives the sheet its catalog name is printed as well. The rest is the ticket and the printer's imprint.

PUBLIC OFFICE IS A PUBLIC TRUST

UNNECESSARY TAXATION OPPRESSES INDUSTRY.

REDUCE THE TARIFF ON NECESSARIES OF LIFE.

FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

GROVER CLEVELAND OF NEW YORK

FOR VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

ALLEN G. THURMAN OF OHIO

Democratic Campaign Banner No. 1.

PUBLISHED AT HITCHCOCK'S STEAM PRINTING AND PUBLISHING HOUSE, 385 SIXTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.

A banner with a position

Besides the faces and the eagle, this banner states a position. Its two red banners say that taxation beyond need harms industry and that the tariff on necessities should come down. The archive's description notes that it states the Democratic tariff position in two lines and offers no figures.

It also tags the sheet for glittering generalities and transfer, and both tags fit. The eagle and shield lend the ticket the country's emblems. The slogans stand in for a schedule: the banner does not say which duties, by how much, or what "unnecessary" means. A voter could agree with every word and still not know what the ticket would do.

That gap is normal for a banner, and the slogans still commit the ticket to something. "Public office is a public trust" is a claim a voter can hold a man to after the election. "Unnecessary taxation oppresses industry" makes a claim about cost and harm that a reader can test against the record.

Who printed it

The imprint is Hitchcock's Steam Printing and Publishing House at 385 Sixth Avenue, New York, and the archive files the issuer as a corporation. "No. 1" on the sheet implies at least the intent of a series; the record does not say how many followed or how many copies were printed.

The same year, the Prohibition Party print set a church town against a saloon town. The campaign print hub holds the 1888 race beside the rest of the century, and its gallery includes a Republican cartoon from the same year, "Saved! The Republican Party throws its protecting shield over American labor."

Sources

  • FRAME object record, Public office is a public trust: Democratic campaign banner no. 1, 1888. Hitchcock's Steam Printing and Publishing House, New York.
  • Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, catalog record, retrieved by the archive 2 October 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain by age (published 1888); LOC: "No known restrictions on publication."