Rutherford Hayes, dressed as an acrobat and holding a U.S. flag with the words Civil Service Reform, rides backwards on a lobster or crayfish. On the left, Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman holds a paper hoop labeled Clerks May Go to Ohio to Vote. Ohio was the state where Hayes served as Governor before becoming President.

On the right, Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz holds a whip and scratches his head. He's surrounded by paper hoops labeled Returning Board Anderson's Appointment, Cornell's Defiance (Hayes removed Alonzo B. Cornell from the New York Custom House, an institution with a long history of political patronage) and Removal of Officials without Cause.