---
title: '"She Is Getting Too Feeble to Hold Them" (Puck cover, 16 November 1896)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/she-is-getting-too-feeble-to-hold-them-puck-1896/
description: The Queen Regent of Spain, in crown and ruff, struggles to hold back two dark-skinned boys labelled 'Cuba' and 'Philippine Islands'.
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. "She Is Getting Too Feeble to Hold Them"

**Content note:** 1896 cartoon drawing Cuba and the Philippines as stereotyped dark-skinned children, shown as published. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[!["She Is Getting Too Feeble to Hold Them", 1896 US cartoon: The Queen Regent of Spain, in crown and ruff, struggles to hold](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/she-is-getting-too-feeble-to-hold-them-puck-1896.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/she-is-getting-too-feeble-to-hold-them-puck-1896.jpg)

# "She Is Getting Too Feeble to Hold Them" (Puck cover, 16 November 1896)

The Queen Regent of Spain, in crown and ruff, struggles to hold back two dark-skinned boys labelled 'Cuba' and 'Philippine Islands', who are armed and straining to break free. The tell: the colonies are drawn as stereotyped children and Spain as a worn-out guardian, so independence reads as a household accident.

The cover of Puck for 16 November 1896, published by Keppler & Schwarzmann in New York for a domestic readership, shows the Queen Regent of Spain in crown and ruff struggling to hold back two armed, dark-skinned boys labelled 'Cuba' and 'Philippine Islands'. The colonies are drawn as stereotyped children in the racial caricature of the period, and Spain as a worn-out guardian. The caption treats colonial independence as a household accident. Name-calling works through the child figures, which diminish both the colonies and Spain.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)

## Full record

Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Event, Source, Rights

[← Last ghost-dance of the free silver tribe (Puck)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-ghost-dance-free-silver-1896/) ["Diner bij Oom Paul" (Dinner at Uncle Paul's): Dutch postcard, Kruger serves Chamberlain Transvaal soup, c.1897 →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dutch-kruger-transvaal-soup-1897/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [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.
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling, Demonization)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)