Judge — May 5, 1888 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes Republican anxiety during the 1888 presidential election. The scene depicts a military fortification with American flag, where anxious figures peer through a telescope/cannon, asking "What Flag are the Republicans running up? If it is Blaine, we are lost." James G. Blaine was the likely Republican nominee. The cartoon mocks Republican internal divisions and uncertainty about their candidate choice. The military/fortification imagery suggests political warfare, while the "dreadful suspense" reflects genuine party fracturing. The Democratic response ("For all our powder is burnt and our ammunition is spent") indicates both parties faced resource exhaustion—possibly literal campaign spending or metaphorical political capital depletion heading into November's election.