Judge — September 25, 1897 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Judge magazine cartoon satirizes William McKinley's 1897 claim that prosperity was coming to America under his presidency. The cartoon depicts McKinley (identifiable by the label "William McKinley Advance Agent") as a small man being violently kicked or trampled by a large figure—likely representing economic hardship or unemployment. The satire mocks McKinley's optimistic rhetoric about "coming prosperity" by visually showing the opposite: the advance agent of prosperity is himself being brutally attacked. The "Remember 1897" notation suggests this references McKinley's early presidency during ongoing economic difficulties from the 1890s depression. The cartoon criticizes the gap between McKinley's political promises and actual working-class economic conditions.