As you can see, it's Uncle Sam and Columbia bringing the blessings of liberty to less-enlightened peoples in the wake of the Spanish-American War. My guess is that it's a scan off the Library of Congress site. Yes, here it is, from 1899.
In the larger size reprinted here, you can see children in native garb representing their countries, with Puerto Rico receiving a book, Hawaii reaching out for something too, Samoa sucking on candy, and Cuba and the Philippines getting a nice new plow. If it's not a justification of imperialism (although I think it is), it's certainly paternalism.
Oddly enough, it's the Government Printing Office:
GPO PUBLISHES ITS FIRST COMIC BOOK
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) builds on its storied history by publishing the agency’s first comic book. GPO employees created the comic book Squeaks Discovers Type! as a teaching tool for children of all ages. As the agency celebrates its 150-year anniversary, the comic book takes a unique approach to educate readers on the important role printing has played from the beginnings of civilization to today’s digital world. The comic book’s concept, story and illustrations were created at GPO. Jim Cameron wrote the story and Creative Services’ Graphic Designer Nick Crawford provided the illustrations. Squeaks Discovers Type! is available at GPO’s newly designed and renovated bookstore in Washington, DC or available online at: http://bookstore.gpo.gov/collections/squeaks-discovers-type.jsp
“GPO serves the communication needs of the federal government, and a comic book is a great way to communicate with young people,” said Public Printer Bob Tapella. “Through the talents of Jim Cameron and Nick Crawford, GPO is able to create a publication that conveys the message that printing is an important component to the history of the world and to our nation.”
The GPO is the federal government’s primary centralized resource for gathering, cataloging, producing, providing, authenticating, and preserving published U.S. government information in all its forms. GPO is responsible for the production and distribution of information products and services for all three branches of the federal government. In addition to publication sales, GPO makes government information available at no cost to the public through GPO’s Federal Digital System (www.fdsys.gov) and through partnerships with approximately 1,220 libraries nationwide participating in the Federal Depository Library Program. For more information, please visit www.gpo.gov. Follow GPO on Twitter http://twitter.com/USGPO and on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/gpoprinter.
