Judge — June 14, 1890 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon criticizes the Louisiana Lottery, a notorious gambling scheme. The left side shows a "Grand Drawing of the Louisiana Lottery" attracting crowds of hopeful participants. The central image traces the "poor investor's" fate through various gambling venues (race track, private cars, fine residences), ultimately depicting him as a tramp in the upper right—"The Big Swindler Eases His Way Into Society." The cartoon satirizes how lottery schemes promise wealth but actually transfer money from desperate poor people to wealthy operators who gain social respectability. It exposes the lottery as a swindle that impoverishes ordinary citizens while enriching corrupt promoters. The vertical flow demonstrates the systematic extraction of funds upward through society.