republicans

John T. Pratt  (John Teele Pratt) (1873-1927) was a son of Charles Pratt (1830-1891) and his second wife Helen Richardson (Mary Helen Richardson) (1839-1907).  He graduated from Amherst College and Harvard Law School.

He was an industrialist with Standard Oil Co. and a philanthropist. In 1917, perhaps the time this photo was in the news, Mr. Pratt went to Washington and established the National Budget Commission. He urged a national budget system before the House Appropriations Committee who adopted it.
During the later part of 1918, he served as a Major in the American Red Cross at Paris.

He married Ruth Sears Baker (1877-1965). Mrs. Ruth Baker Pratt was the first woman to represent New York City on the Board of Alderman and later the first woman to represent New York in Congress (17th Congressional District 1929-33.)

They had three daughters and two sons: Mrs. Virginia Thayer (1905-1979),  Mrs. Sally Jackson (Sally Sears Pratt) (1908-1973),  Mrs. Phyllis Nitze (1912-1987),  Edwin Baker Pratt (Edwin Howard Baker Pratt) (1913-1975), and John T. Pratt, Jr. (John Teele Pratt, Jr.) (1903-1969)   [1] [2] [3] [4]

                Major John T. Pratt (4th from left) with the staff of the Army and Navy Department, American Red Cross, in front of the Gambetta statue, Paris, Nov. 1918.  LOC

The photographer of John T. Pratt's portrait, Joseph G. Gessford (Joseph Gaylord Gessford) (1866-1942) began his career at age seventeen with the Prince Studios in Washington, DC.  He came to New York in 1892 and established a studio in Union Square, and later moved to Fifth Avenue at Thirty-fifth Street. Gessford photographed New York's elite, and had a branch studio in the Berkshires (Lee, Massachusetts) where he photographed the elite at play. He took well-known photographs of Andrew Carnegie, George Westinghouse, Mark Twain, Buffalo Bill (Cody) and Theodore Roosevelt (view Roosevelt at The Library of Congress here.) There's an interesting back story about Mark Twain not wanting to pay the photographer as, after all, Twain had allowed Gessford to photograph him. (sigh) some things never change ;)   [1] [2]     LOC - add Gessford as creator/contributor?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Teele_Pratt

"Charles Seymour Whitman (September 29, 1868 – March 29, 1947) served as the 41st Governor of New York from January 1915 to December 1918."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_S._Whitman

The photo was most likely taken on the occasion of the handover of a flying boat to the NY Naval Militia. See comment under

Thanks B-59 for linking this image to the related ones about the NY Naval Militia ceremony. We will add more details when we update the description.

I think that says "Judge Parker" but the hanging Judge Parker died in 1896.

Actually, I think it says "Judge Parke", and it looks like there was such a man in Indiana...

According to that link that Judge Parke died no later than 1862 so unlikely he was speaking in 1910. But it does bring up the point that there were likely many Judge Parker's/Parke's

Well read!

I'm guessing this is the 1904 U.S. Presidential (D) candidate Alton B. Parker AKA Judge Parker. The image above looks like it says Parker, not Parner (the "k" and "r" are difficult to read, but seem to be there).