Judge, 1902-11-22 · page 16 of 16
Judge — November 22, 1902 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1902 Judge cartoon satirizes the ideal of the perfectly efficient worker through absurdist humor. An anthropomorphized octopus—chosen specifically for its multiple arms—is shown performing various jobs simultaneously: office work (typing, phone answering, filing), sports, farming, construction, and barbering. The satire targets both industrial-age work culture and perhaps labor anxieties of the period. By exaggerating what employers implicitly demanded (workers handling multiple tasks at once with superhuman efficiency), the cartoon mocks the unrealistic expectations placed on laborers. The octopus becomes a metaphor for the "ideal" worker—someone literally capable of doing everything simultaneously—thereby exposing how absurd such expectations truly are. The humor works through this impossible fantasy, suggesting contemporaries recognized the pressure workers faced to be infinitely versatile and productive.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
L He could copy all the letters, do the typewriting, ring for a messenger, post the ledger, dust off the desk, and answer the ‘phone, all at once. : 5. 6. ; Wouldn't he be handy to put up buildings in a hurry? ‘And as a bootblack and barber he naturally would be the “real thing."* COPYRENT 1902 BY JUDGE COMPANY OF NEW YORK. ‘Sache & Wiheles Lie Pig Co New York WHEN THEY TRAIN THE OCTOPUS TO WORK. 2 comicbooks.com