Judge — July 21, 1900 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Judge magazine page satirizes **William Jennings Bryan**, the three-time presidential candidate and prominent politician. The caption indicates he is "awakening" after a long period of dormancy—comparing him to Washington Irving's literary character Rip Van Winkle, who famously slept for decades and awoke to find the world transformed. The satire suggests Bryan has been politically irrelevant or sidelined ("four years ago we said all this"), and the magazine is mocking his attempted or actual political reemergence. The silhouetted figure appears to be waking amid urban chaos or destruction, implying the world has changed dramatically during his absence from influence. The cartoon's point: Bryan's return to politics is outdated and ridiculous given how far American society and politics have progressed without him.