Judge, 1895-05-11 · page 16 of 16
Judge — May 11, 1895 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge magazine page satirizes the early 20th-century construction boom of skyscrapers in New York City. The central cartoon depicts the dangers and absurdities of rapidly escalating building heights. The main image shows a tall building with people inside experiencing the "lightning elevator" — a comic exaggeration of the new high-speed elevators that made tall buildings practical. The surrounding vignettes mock various consequences: people feeling dizzy from the speed, concerns about fire safety ("the fire will come down to the water soon"), and the general vertigo of urban life at these unprecedented heights. The satire targets both the building craze itself and modern anxieties about technology and urban overcrowding. The phrase "they have got the world all out of plumb" suggests cities are becoming chaotically unbalanced. This reflects genuine contemporary concerns about rapid industrialization, worker safety, and whether such extreme development was wise or sustainable.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
(fe Muncuny)—" Darn the ta!l , They have got the world all out THE LIGHTNING ELEVATOR a THOSE SWIFT ELEVATORS, OW YOU FEEL. ‘Going down and going up. What it will come to The tall-building curve. Been un a visit to New York. Owwan— The Ste t tu the slghiseaiifiber, aad yoo? Seckatt a Wilhelms Litho Co New York hose, hes the fifth.” — Don't worry ; the fire will come down to the water soon.” THE TALL-BUILDING CRAZE. comicbooks.com