Judge — September 24, 1887 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Judge magazine cartoon satirizes Secretary of the Treasury John G. Carlisle's collaboration with President Grover Cleveland on free trade policy. The image depicts figures in striped clothing (suggesting prisoners or convicts) gathered in what appears to be an official setting, suggesting the cartoon equates free trade advocacy with criminal or disreputable activity. The satire mocks Carlisle and Cleveland's push for tariff reduction and free trade, which was economically controversial during the 1890s. Protectionists opposed free trade as harmful to American industry and workers. By depicting the participants as criminals or captives, Judge ridicules the policy as illegitimate or dangerous to the nation's interests.