Judge — April 17, 1886 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes New York City municipal corruption using horticultural metaphor. The image depicts city officials as gardeners struggling to remove a dead tree stump with exposed roots—representing entrenched political corruption or a corrupt official that resists removal. The caption's dialogue ("That rotten old stump must come up by the roots this time") suggests officials are attempting serious reform by eliminating corruption entirely, not merely its surface symptoms. The figure on the left appears to be a city official or administrator overseeing the difficult work. The specific identity of the "stump" remains unclear without additional context, though it likely references a particular scandal or corrupt political figure prominent in 1886 New York City politics. The cartoon's message: removing deep-rooted municipal corruption requires thorough, difficult work.