---
title: The goose that lays the golden eggs
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/goose-golden-eggs-protection-1888/
description: Cover of Judge, 8 September 1888. A man labelled "Democratic politician" with "Mills" on his pocket offers a knife marked "Free trade, English make" to a…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![The goose that lays the golden eggs](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/goose-golden-eggs-protection-1888.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/goose-golden-eggs-protection-1888.jpg)

# The goose that lays the golden eggs

Cover of Judge, 8 September 1888. A man labelled "Democratic politician" with "Mills" on his pocket offers a knife marked "Free trade, English make" to a seated workingman holding eggs marked good wages, good home, clothing and prosperity, beside a goose labelled "Protection"; the caption has him say, "Kill the goose and get all your eggs at once." A boxed text above argues that free trade would lower wages. The harm is staged as imminent and the offered protection is the tariff (fear-appeal). The cartoon argues the Republican position and is grouped on that side.

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Judge / VOL. 14 NO. 360 / SEPTEMBER 8 1888 / PRICE 10 CENTS. / FREE TRADE WOULD MAKE GOODS CHEAPER, BUT IT WOULD LOWER THE AMERICAN WORKMAN'S WAGES SO MUCH THAT HE WOULD BE UNABLE TO PURCHASE THEM. / [on the knife] FREE TRADE ENGLISH MAKE / [on the pocket] MILLS / [on the eggs] GOOD LIVING, PROSPERITY, CLOTHING, GOOD WAGES, GOOD HOME / [on the goose] PROTECTION / THE GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGGS. / DEMOCRATIC POLITICIAN (to Workingman)--"Kill the Goose and get all your Eggs at once." / GILLAM
```

Masthead and copyright line abbreviated.

[← Union Labor Party](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/union-labor-party-streeter-cunningham-1888/) [Principles of the Prohibition party →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/principles-of-the-prohibition-party-1888/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Miniature of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, Les Passages d'outremer (BnF Fr. 5594, fol. 19r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passages-doutremer-council-of-clermont-colombe-1474/) (France · 1474 · Testimonial, Fear appeal). Content note: Medieval religious imagery and a French text describing alleged killings and captivity of eastern Christians, as used to argue for the First Crusade; the text is shown as written.
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Proclamation de Sonthonax en créole, Cap-Français (Proclamation of Commissioner Sonthonax in Creole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sonthonax-proclamation-creole-1793/) (France · Aug 29, 1793 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating). Content note: Colonial-era proclamation on slavery and emancipation in Saint-Domingue; speaks of slaves, whips and 'Nègues' in period terms.
- [Gazette of the United States, "The Jeffersoniad" no. VIII, 14 August 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gazette-us-jeffersoniad-1800/) (United States · Aug 14, 1800 · Name-calling, Fear appeal)
- [Tyrants Prostrate, Liberty Triumphant (pro-Polk cartoon on Dorr), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tyrants-prostrate-liberty-triumphant-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Fear appeal). Content note: Speech balloons contain anti-Catholic and nativist wording ('the ruins of Popery') in the mouths of the Whig figures, written by a Democratic cartoonist and shown unaltered.
- [Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862/) (Russian Empire · 1862 · Fear appeal, Transfer)