Judge — January 27, 1883 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "A Hint to Hotel Proprietors" This 1888 cartoon satirizes hotel management practices. The central figure—a grotesquely caricatured man with an enormous head—represents a hotel proprietor or manager. He's surrounded by smaller figures (likely hotel staff or guests) and displays signs advertising "Edison's Flying Machines $2 Extra" and insurance policies, suggesting he's greedily charging guests for dubious add-on services and amenities. The title "A Hint to Hotel Proprietors" with the instruction "Clerk-Boy, show this gent to No. 11,886" implies satirical criticism of hotels that nickel-and-dime guests with excessive fees. The exaggerated proportions mock proprietors' greed and the absurdity of their scheme to extract money from patrons through questionable charges.