Judge — August 9, 1890 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This political cartoon satirizes threats of a bourbon whiskey boycott in Georgia. Governor Gordon, depicted as a tall figure at center, is shown being threatened by smaller figures representing bourbon interests and political opponents. The caption references an "Honest Elections Bill" and invokes "Jeff Davis" (likely Jefferson Davis, the former Confederate president), suggesting this concerns Reconstruction-era Southern politics and election integrity disputes. The cartoon ridicules the boycott threat as an attempt at political intimidation—the "old bourbon spirit" attempting to coerce the governor through economic pressure rather than democratic means. The grotesque caricatures and their diminished size relative to Gordon suggest Judge magazine viewed the boycott threat as petty and ineffectual political theater.