Judge — January 12, 1895 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Judge magazine cartoon satirizes post-WWI police reform ("reconstructed police"). The central figure is an overloaded policeman standing at a Broadway intersection, burdened with multiple contradictory duties: weather reporting, fire alarms, ice boats, postcard bikes, amusement information, and hotels. A small monkey at his feet appears to represent chaos or the absurdity of the situation. The caption's ironic suggestion—"put one on every corner and make them useful"—mocks proposals to expand police responsibilities beyond law enforcement into various public services. The satire critiques the impracticality of overburdening police officers with civic functions they weren't trained to handle, likely commenting on actual reconstruction-era policy debates about police role expansion in American cities.