The Issue that is Over and Above All Other Issues
This item shows how Young’s socialist politics informed his cartoons on current events. Private ownership of public needs is depicted as a dragon brooding over things like forest, water power, schools, and railroads. The socialist candidate for president in 1928, Norman Thomas, arms himself with votes from labor in an effort to slay the dragon. Meanwhile, Young indicates in the caption, Republican presidential candidate Herbert Hoover and Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith ignore this private ownership, which is “over and above all other issues.”