Judge, 1881-11-12 · page 2 of 16
Judge — November 12, 1881 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# The Judge, Page 2: Political Satire on New York Water and Park Management The main cartoon (top left) depicts **The Judge Publishing Co.** editorial voice—a stern figure overseeing political affairs. The page satirizes **New York City politics**, particularly attacking **Hubert O. Thompson** (a Democratic political manager) over the water crisis. The text alleges Thompson manufactured alarm about insufficient water to justify a $22 million aqueduct project, using it to consolidate Democratic power and control. Critics claim this was political manipulation echoing **Tammany Hall's corrupt methods** (referenced via "Tweed"). A secondary piece mocks the **Park Commissioners** for ineffectual management—comparing their circus-like incompetence to actual entertainment venues. The satire suggests the commissioners waste resources and create "destructive" policy through divided responsibility and poor oversight. Overall: Judge attacks Democratic machine politics and bureaucratic incompetence in Gilded Age New York, using water infrastructure and parks as examples of how politicians exploit public services for power.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Nos. 18 & 15 PARK ROW, N. Y. | PUBLISHED ONCE A WE TERMS TO SUBSCRIBERS. | | THE JUDGE PUBLISHING CO. | | One Copy, HF 13 weeks a> reTAGe PRET. “6 1 al dress Tie IooR PUBLISHING 81S Park Kow, N.Y | ROMANCE AND REALITY. | | eS said that no man is And there is Scriptural ion th try than in it, ‘with the most dix as very unostentatious existence he York toalay. ‘The hero ¢ is sometimes called, looks ordinary 1 plainly dr every morni ttox, as he of busine quite to his affairs If he be “the noblest Roman of them has been all he does not | show it, > looking at him would sup- | pose that he had tons ot presents received | from P to Mexico, at his av ; or that he 1 wined with nearly all the | crowne s of Europe, with a fair sprink- | ling of those of ents, The ‘di- | vinity that doth hedge a king” does not seem | to alo for a Republican General | and ed down town from every country stored aw had dined her conti ave a spal x-President THE DEMAND FOR WATER ) matter what the pe jerally, may ¢ ple of this metrop- ider the of the reity of water, the citizen who watches the anties of political para- s nothing in the seare but “a job” of the three-decker kind. The Democratic states- men who, like the pick-pocket who snatches a wateh and joins with the crowd in bellowing “ Stop thief,” packed up the sand ted | from the wigwam shrieking “ Reform,” and | | “Down with the monster Kelly,” are held up to publi tion and scorn by th wam as falsely stating iy is insufficient, when the | | eontrary is truce. The deserters from Tam- | many are now in possession of the most im- | portant departments of the city and the fact is note of Public Works hi meu who have shaken from their fi ‘The corpulent ‘Thompson, as a politic ager, is likened | unto the late Mr. and Kelly's followers | allege that the alarm given by him concerning the lack of water in the lakes and in the | reservoirs is a piece of villainy upon his part | water sup| y government, at the Department lum for | mi Hubert 0. | the D: | find the place where water is plentiful, and ha | the street-car compat | ductor, determined to ride int THE JUDGE. than which the darkest deeds of Tweed stand nt and alluring forced, in s« pn the It T ‘on's purpose is so | soon replaced by cars of to work upon the feelings of the people that | A similar plan followed he will incoming Le a similar result. nse, Lo place which were rs, » would doubt impel the islature to | less produce a bill for a new aqueduct, which will in- | = ae volve the expenditure of $22,000,000, This | . amount of money, it is further alleged, will THE PARK CIRCUS. able Thompson to inerea that hemay not only party of this city, but gather in \jorities for his own purpo: his political do- bsolutely control We do not see why people crowd the torium of the Minstrels and the new tl of Antonius Pi the Park Commiss er main, the meetin open to the puby re is more eireus here than at any show. The fi it” may here Ix torius, whi of Democrat ers: ar other cot ats who follow in the footsteps art of “how not to do far aching, While the € i nd meth of Thompson cast all the o1 er upon Gove vetoed the water supply bill last wint aim that the Gover at upon” this bill, from the no need of constructing a it was so situated that it Juse. The Governor be- | mpson people should first seareity of wa over men ark languishes from utter 1 from head commi ple only of destruction. missioner could be held r er can, Divide bility ione mismanagement. A many fact Uhat ther new viaduet un ht be of practic that the jon isa many-he monster 1 nuit mi ponsible, responsibility is no Let us have a sin and let him be held to striet ant for the fulfillment of the duties of his lieve that then the building of a new viaduct would inorder, Tie Juvcr therefore suggests to the Commissioner of Pablic Works that time expended in politieal mancuveri permit him to have more time to secur ofw x would plenty er in a city surrounded by that beve | Elevated Companies Please Answer Railway Con ing public why PURIFYING CITY POLITICS. Year after year the same old familiar ery | is heard coming from the soci nently respectable politicians, It is ur candidates would give politics. We the Lannigans, Quinns, and Duff ions of the conduct of haunt the “ bucket The people at it was these distin- led in def ture luce the I aner of | perhaps | guished sta the bill in the fare on the I ati nds to five ¢ Lan al Hogan as employees aspirants for office who ps” of the lower wards, howl” with the boys, ly through the daily ‘ow that we hi uch men as am Waldorf Astor and Roswell P. Flow ed in contests for Congressional wealth of } ice in the belief that the upy front s » worthies ire to know why the determined to put their employ old seats in the Se pauses for a reply. anies ack ate. “THE JupGr honors, the aristocracy ar York may rej ue cirel Wuat do Thurber & Co, pay t | the exclusive use of the sidewalks f their West Br it n three Iway store? A hand: nt of money should zo into the sury for the bei ats in the ing their nen, who sides sof society, are condu igns as they would a the shock will be gr ple who think the desired change in politica ainly they do not der ' campaigning has come in the nominations of | the use of the sidewalks. By the way, isn’t Mr. Astor and Mr. Flowers, but the truth | this same Thurbe must be told them, It is ‘the same old story | and against monopolies ? don’t know that he public nuisance. » of croquet, But | some city t, no doubt, to the it of the people, for great shouter orm But perhaps h js. an obstructionist and a of procuring votes. THE BOB-TAIL CARS. SPEAKING of luck, what do you dom sliding out of th i ate? And if it wasn’t luck, how w piece of political change of stakes they were, and he—Windom, of Win- York is behind Chi t abated long sine simple method. The public, tired of tims o p bob-tail the role of con- A GREAT weather prophet was Vennor, Whose voice was as sweet as a tenor, But the old weather clerk Was a contrary Turk, And always went back on poor Veanor. cars without paying fares unless there should be present nebody whose duty it was to collect them. | 3 sensible policy was pursued until the | TT comicbooks.com '