Clifford Berryman cartoon, "Speaking of Superfluous Starlings" (10 January 1930)
A Berryman drawing of 10 January 1930 on the federal law enforcement commission: an old man with a butterfly net and a sash marked "Law Enforcement Commission" says "We find something must be done!" under trees full of birds spelling "Crime."
- Date
- 1930-01-10
- Kind
- photograph
- Source
- National Archives Catalog, Records of the U.S. Senate (RG 46), Berryman Political Cartoon Collection
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- NAID
- 6012008
- Rights
- A drawing by Clifford K. Berryman in the Records of the U.S. Senate (Record Group 46), series "Berryman Political Cartoon Collection" (NAID 306080), whose use note reads: "Some records in this series may be subject to copyright restrictions. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine the copyright holder and arrange for permission to reproduce the items, if necessary." The item record reads "Use Restriction: Unrestricted." Berryman was a newspaper cartoonist, not a federal employee, so 17 U.S.C. § 105 is not the basis. The catalog dates the drawing 10 January 1930. A work published in the United States in 1930 or earlier is in the public domain there, and an unpublished work by an author who died in 1949, as Berryman did, passed out of copyright at the end of 2019; on either footing, and on the item-level "Unrestricted" mark, a copy is stored here.
The catalog title is “Speaking of Superfluous Starlings,” local identifier F-083, dated 10 January 1930. An elderly man in a top hat wears a sash marked “LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION” and holds a magnifying glass and a butterfly net. He says, “WE FIND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!” Flocks of birds in the bare trees around him spell “CRIME” three times.
The National Archives note says enforcement of prohibition proved extremely difficult, that “organized crime groups were becoming more and more involved in all phases of the liquor business,” and that Berryman was spoofing the federal law enforcement commission as it readied its first annual report to Congress. The commission is the body whose records include the Doran letter filed here. The note’s statements are quoted as the note’s.
The drawing is an editorial cartoon, not a finding of the commission.
