The illustration shows James Garfield and Winfield S. Hancock nailing a Chinese man between two "Anti-Chinese" boards labeled "Republican Plank" and "Democratic Plank".
"Plain Language from Truthful James" is a narrative poem by American writer Bret Harte. It was originally published in September 1870 in the Overland Monthly.
The illustration from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper depicts a Chinese man sitting outside the Golden Gate of Liberty, barred out due to his ethnicity.