Judge — June 2, 1900 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes the hypocrisy of Chicago clergy regarding automobile use on Sundays. The two fashionably dressed women are riding in an automobile on Sunday morning—traditionally considered sinful leisure activity that violated religious observance. The joke centers on Ella's concern about encountering her minister, whom she doesn't attend church with. The implication is that her minister preaches against Sunday automobile driving from the pulpit but regularly engages in it himself—hence he "always marries me" (likely a garbled OCR of "marries us" or similar, suggesting he performs ceremonies for the women). The satire targets clergy moral inconsistency: they condemn secular Sunday activities while practicing them. This reflects early 20th-century tensions between traditional religious restrictions and modern leisure technologies, with particular mockery of Chicago's religious establishment for their perceived hypocrisy.