Judge — June 9, 1888 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon depicts what appears to be a violent confrontation between working-class men (wielding bats and fishing rods as weapons) and well-dressed gentlemen in top hats. A large caricatured figure labeled "FREE TRADE" dominates the background, being used as a weapon by the upper-class figures. On the ground lies a figure labeled "PROTECTION OF DEMOCRACY." The satire likely critiques how wealthy elites weaponized free-trade policies against working-class interests and democratic protections during the Gilded Age. The "lash" suggests brutal economic oppression disguised as economic policy. The cartoon attacks the contradiction between claimed democratic values and actual economic practices that harmed ordinary workers.