Alas, it’s almost exactly the same now as then:
“Tournament of Today: A set-to between Labor and Monopoly,” Cartoon by Frederick Graetz, Puck Magazine, August 1, 1883 (from files of Georgia State University); click image for a larger view at Georgia State
Information on the cartoon, from SuperITCH: Frederick Graetz, a chromolithograph that was the center spread for Puck Magazine‘s issue of August 1, 1883. Monopolists portrayed are, from left to right, “businessman, financier and telecommunications pioneer Cyrus Field; railroad tycoon William Vanderbilt; shipbuilding magnate John Roach; financier, railroad mogul, and speculator Jay Gould; and an unknown monopolist.” Some might say that the “unknown monopolist” bears a striking resemblance to one of the Koch brothers, but that’s fanciful thinking.
Labor vs Monopoly – click on this image for a larger version of this historic Puck Magazine cartoon
Tip of the old scrub brush to One Penny Sheet’s “condemned to repeat” feature.
More:
- Image and details, and history, at the Library of Congress American Memory site
- Labor reform and the worker, at AHC site (several images and other media)
- “Using Images to Teach History,” .pdf showing several exercises for using images to teach labor and management history, at shapinghistory.wikispaces.com
Posted by Ed Darrell 
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 