Judge — January 25, 1902 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This political cartoon depicts Cuba as an infant or small child being fed at an American table laden with food and flowers. The caption reads: "Just leave Cuba alone, and when he gets hungry enough he'll want to become one of the United States family." The satire reflects early 1900s American imperial ambitions toward Cuba following the Spanish-American War (1898). The cartoon anthropomorphizes Cuba as a dependent child who will supposedly voluntarily seek U.S. annexation once made sufficiently desperate or hungry. This represents the prevailing imperialist rhetoric of the era—the notion that Cuba would naturally gravitate toward American control through economic pressure and dependence rather than outright conquest. The American figures watching represent U.S. policymakers confident in their strategy of economic coercion.