The Judge, Vol. 7, No. 163

Published one week after the 1884 presidential election, this cover depicts a ragged figure labeled "The Rising Goose" holding a bottle and addressing a goose in a rural shanty yard. The title, "A Dependent Goose for Democracy's Thanksgiving," pairs the bird with Irish immigrant caricature—a stock figure in Judge's Republican satire. The cartoon mocks Democratic claims about protecting working-class interests, suggesting instead that party promises leave common people in poverty. The goose, traditionally associated with American holiday abundance, here exists in squalor, inverting the Thanksgiving symbol. The scene reflects Judge's partisan editorial stance during the volatile 1880s, when tariff policy, currency debates, and ethnic identity shaped campaign rhetoric and visual propaganda.