Judge — April 22, 1899 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon critiques American territorial expansion and colonialism. The central figure is a Native American chief in full headdress, positioned as if "speaking" through surveying equipment marked with "United States" and "Hawaii" signs. The equipment suggests America is literally appropriating indigenous lands through official measurement and claim-marking. In the foreground, a figure (likely representing American interests) lounges casually, feet propped up—implying casual disregard for Native peoples. The distant Hawaiian flag suggests this cartoon addresses American expansionism into the Pacific. The satire appears to mock the contradiction between American claims of progress and civilization while violently dispossessing Native peoples of their territories through bureaucratic means disguised as neutral surveying.