Judge — September 5, 1885 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page satirizes **corporate power and government corruption** in late 19th-century America. The main cartoon "The Judge's Charge to the Grand Jury" depicts a judge instructing jurors about corporate malfeasance—specifically telegraph, electric light, and telephone companies' illegal activities and their influence over legislators and the Sub-way Commission in New York. The satire argues corporations act with impunity, their wrongdoing protected by corrupted politicians and officials who are paid high salaries to ignore crimes. The judge suggests jurors must courageously enforce law against these powerful entities, as no one else will. The accompanying poem "What Was It?" appears to humorously depict a romantic encounter, offering lighter relief from the serious corporate-corruption theme dominating the page.