Judge, 1900-04-21 · page 11 of 18
Judge — April 21, 1900 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **advertisement**, not political satire—it's a full-page Williams' Shaving Soap promotion disguised as testimonial journalism. The "cartoon" consists of an illustration of a barber showing a customer his face through magnifying glasses. The framing device presents a Montreal barber as an authority figure endorsing the product over competitors. The pitch uses pseudo-scientific language ("Little Doors"—pores leading to "life-blood") to justify why inferior soaps cause irritation while Williams' soap is "pure" and "mild." The barber claims twenty defected customers from other shops who suffered "sore and smarting" faces from "harsh, highly perfumed, quick-drying Soaps." **For modern readers**: This exploits early 20th-century anxieties about product safety and skin health, using expert testimony (the barber) and pseudo-medical reasoning to position Williams' as the only trustworthy choice. The "Canadian Correspondent" framing adds false authenticity. It's essentially native advertising dressed as editorial content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Williams’ Shaving Soab The Delicate, Rich, Creamy Lather, thoroughly permeates and cleanses the softens the beard, pores, and leaves the face cool, comfortable and refreshed. “You can see how it is, Sir,” (From a Canadian Correspondent). “IT HOLDS MY TRADE, and that’s why I use nothing now but the splendid old reliable WILLIAMS’ Shaving Soap,” said the most prosperous Barber in Montreal the other day, in answer to the question WITY IT WAS that I found nothing else in any of the principal shops: “You Can See how it is, Sir,” he said, and, giving me the hand glass, he took a powerful magnifying glass, and showed me how the skin really looks, and how important it was that nothing but the purest, mildest, and most delicate of Soaps should ever be used. Little Doors— myriads of them—unseen but always open—lead directly through the skin—to the very life-blood. Hence the imperative necessity that you guard these doors. Nothing comes nearer the skin than your SHAVING SOAP—you apply it with the brush—and, as it were, force ff into those willing little doorways. “They can’t fool me, Sir,” he continued, “with their stories about ‘cheapness.’ and «just as good as,’ and all that, for I've tried them all, and I. know what I'm talking about; and what is more, Sir, I have more than twenty customers who have come to me from other shops, with faces all sore and smarting and poisoned by the use of harsh, highly perfumed, quick-drying Soaps. All this trouble dis- appeared with the use of WILLIAMS’ Soap, and they have stayed by me because they feel confidence in the They are the most profitable customers we have, I tell you Sir, It pays to use the BEST.” ay I run my Shop, and they send their friends here, too. Williams’ Soaps are the only recognized standard for Shaving, and in the form of Shaving Sticks, Shaving Tablets, Shaving Cream, etc., are sold by druggists and perfumers all over the world. toes. LF HE J. B. WILLIAMS CO., Grasronsury, Conn., U.S. A. PES: PARIS, comicbooks.com