From Hofer, page 88:

This image, the cover of the game, seems to encompass a lot of what was going on in 1880’s America (this game was copyrighted in 1886). We see it’s taking place in a city. The messenger boy wears a uniform; that can be part of the drill of working for someone else. He’s a white male, this is 1880’s corporate America, after all. Though it’s worth noting that, while this game was likely mass produced on machines, earlier McLoughlin Brothers games were colored by hand by young girls.

There’s a locomotive and a bank in the background. These are the economic and political forces of the era. And finally, we come to the bottom right. Bordered by some foliage—other than the messenger boy himself, this foliage is the only living/natural thing on this cover—is that wonderful phrase, “merit rewarded.” This is still the good old days. Virtue might not be the end goal anymore, but it will still get you to the top. This is before the Monopoly-era blind pursuit of wealth at all costs, when people didn’t care how you made your fortune, just that you made a fortune. It also separates us from those aristocrats in Europe, born into an inflexible class system. Here in America, you have a chance to work your way to the top!