Advice to the Mentally Feeble — Keep Out of Politics

Charles Dana Gibson draws a crowded meeting room of men — politicians or ward bosses by their dress — gathered in animated conference. At left, a tall, elegantly tailored figure stands apart, arms folded, watching with cool detachment as a stout, jovial man seated center-right holds court, leaning forward on his chair with the self-satisfaction of a practiced hack. The surrounding figures laugh, lean in, or slump in studied indifference. The composition pits one upright, skeptical outsider against a roomful of cheerful insiders. Gibson's argument reflects progressive-era critique of machine politics: democratic participation, the title implies, rewards the dim and the pliable while sensible men watch from the margin.