Judge — September 1, 1900 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Judge magazine cartoon satirizes immigrant "old-clothes men"—a common occupation among Jewish and Italian immigrants in early 20th-century America. The caricature depicts a figure with exaggerated features in formal dress "bulldozing" citizens near what appears to be an American store (marked "McKinley," "Roosevelt," "American Store"). The satire suggests these immigrant merchants were aggressive or coercive in their business dealings with American citizens. The cartoon uses dehumanizing visual caricature common to this era's anti-immigrant sentiment, particularly targeting Jewish immigrants who dominated the secondhand clothing trade in urban America. This reflects the xenophobic attitudes prevalent in American publications of the 1890s-1910s period.