Judge, 1888-09-15 · page 1 of 16
Judge — September 15, 1888 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Democratic Rip Van Winkle" This 1888 cartoon satirizes Democratic Party blindness to economic reality. An elderly bearded man (representing the Democratic Party as "Rip Van Winkle"—the literary character who slept through major changes) awakens to find workers organizing for labor rights. The accompanying letter from Charles H. Litchman, Secretary of Knights of Labor, criticizes Democrats for ignoring the conflict between American and British free-trade systems. The cartoon mocks Democratic leadership for sleeping through twenty years of labor movement development, now shocked to discover organized labor demanding fair wages and protection against cheap foreign labor imports. The satire suggests Democrats are dangerously out of touch with contemporary working-class concerns and industrial realities of the 1880s.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOL.14 NO. 361 SEPTEMBER I5 1888. PRICE 10 CENTS. ENTERCO aT THE Post OFrice AT New YORK AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER, Coprmiont 1888 By THE JUDGE PuBLisHiNo Co. LeTTer prom CHartes H. Lircuman, Seckerary or KNIGHTS or Lawox. The conflict is between the American system, which would foster and encourage the labor of our uwn people, and the British system, which would break down the barriers of protection and throw open our home market to the production of foreign factories and foreign labor. Every dollar's worth of labor imported is by so much a reduction of home laborers’ wages, I do not hesitate to say that the triumph of the Democratic party, dominated by intolerance in the South and British free trade sentiment in the North would be the most serious blow to organized labor it could possibly receive. THE DEMOCRATIC RIP VAN WINKLE. Ow» Rie Vay Tavawan.—* Free Trade will be a great Blessing to you Workingmen.” Seri ae ™ a Wo < (laughing).—“ The Solid South fought for English Free Trade and Cheap Negro Labor in 1860, an ie was beaten; and she will Ue beaten ee ve fight for Cheap White Labor and ‘English Free Trade!—Old man, you have been asleep for over Twenty Years!” comicbooks.com