Judge — November 4, 1893 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page satirizes the **closing of a major fair** (likely the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, based on the architectural references). The cartoons mock various figures relieved the fair has ended: 1. **Top panels**: Irish and other immigrant workers joke about returning to New York and Tammany Hall (the corrupt Democratic machine), suggesting the fair employed transient labor. 2. **Middle panels**: A railroad president and other business interests are buried under fair-related paperwork and debts, satirizing the financial chaos of fair closures. 3. **Bottom panel**: A silhouette procession shows departing crowds—possibly mocking the chaos of fair closure or the "carnival" atmosphere disappearing. The overall point: The fair, while promoted as grand civic progress, actually enriched corrupt politicians, created financial headaches for organizers, and disrupted normal city life. Its closing is presented as relief rather than loss.