Judge — October 6, 1900 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This 1900 Judge cartoon satirizes Richard Croker, the notorious boss of Tammany Hall (New York City's Democratic political machine). The "monkey" represents a political operative or favor-seeker dependent on Croker's patronage system. The caption shows a working American declaring he has "nothing for him this year"—meaning he won't support or benefit Croker's machine. The joke critiques the corrupt patronage network where Tammany Hall distributed jobs and favors to loyal voters in exchange for political support. By depicting the operative as a "monkey," the cartoonist ridicules both Croker's control over subordinates and the degrading nature of machine politics, where ordinary citizens were treated as performing animals rather than as independent citizens with genuine political choice.