Judge — April 29, 1893 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Judge magazine cartoon satirizes President Grover Cleveland and Democratic Party politics. The image depicts a figure (labeled "Grover," referring to Cleveland) issuing a violent order: "If any man hauls UP the American flag, shoot him on the spot." The satire inverts a famous patriotic saying to mock what the cartoonist viewed as Democratic hostility toward American nationalism or patriotic symbols. The exaggerated threat of shooting someone for displaying the flag ridicules what Judge's editors saw as anti-American Democratic policies or rhetoric. The "DEMOCRATIC VERSION" framing suggests the cartoonist believed Democrats opposed American patriotism—a common Republican attack during the Gilded Age. The dark humor relies on readers recognizing both the famous original saying and contemporary political tensions around national identity and party allegiances.