Judge — April 2, 1887 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Democracy's Dilemma" - Judge Magazine, April 2, 1887 This political cartoon uses Aesop's Fable of the donkey starving between two bundles of hay as satire. The donkey represents the Democratic Party, unable to choose between two competing policy positions or candidate factions—thus paralyzed and ineffectual. The caption references the classic fable where the donkey, unable to decide which bundle to eat first, starves to death. Applied to 1880s politics, this suggests Democrats faced an internal deadlock that prevented decisive action or unified direction. The cartoon mocks the party's indecision during a period of factional disputes that characterized late 19th-century Democratic politics. The imagery transforms political stagnation into literal paralysis—a common Judge strategy for satirizing governmental dysfunction.