Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1919 — Introduced Elephant-as Party Pictorial Symbol [ARTICLE]

Introduced Elephant-as Party Pictorial Symbol

The first use of the elephant as a pictorial sytnbol of the Republican party was in 1874, when Thomas Nast, the cartoonist, made It the G. O. P. emblem. Nast was born In Bavaria 78 years ago, and came to America at the age of six. In the sixties he went to Italy and was with Garibaldi as an artist for British and American newspapers. As political cartoonist for Harper’s ly he achieved an international reputation, and his cartoons are said to have -brought about the downfall of the Tweed ring In New York. In 1874 Nast drew a cartoon representing an elephant, labejed “Republican Party,” and also depicted the Democratic party as a fox, „but later the donkey was substituted by cartoonists of opposite political faith.