Judge, 1902-12-06 · page 16 of 16
Judge — December 6, 1902 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge magazine page satirizes a severe coal shortage and price crisis afflicting America. Multiple cartoons depict social classes responding differently to scarcity: **Upper class** (banker) demands coal priority for home furnaces and multiple stoves, dismissing a poor person's single cook-stove need. **Working poor** must send children to scavenge fuel; a tramp defends his dirt by noting he cannot afford thirty dollars per ton for hot water. **Middle class** (actress) resorts to burning candles in stoves—something she performed on stage but never expected to do in real life. **Con artists** exploit desperation by selling fake coal (tar-coated pavestones) to the gullible. The title "While the Price of Coal Is Up" anchors the satire: the cartoon exposes how coal monopolies create suffering across society while the wealthy hoard supplies. The piece critiques both inequality and the moral corruption exploitation enables.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Would you mind, dear, stopping at the safe- deposit vaults on your way home and bringing a shovel of coal for supper ?"* Mrs. Harruse—“'Get out of that yard, you dirty tramp!"" , Tramp—"'Did yer say dirty? Well, would yer expect me ter wash In cold, freezin’ water? An’ would yer suppose | could afford ter pay thirty dollars a ton fer coal ter git warm water?” Unrortunare rater (of large family}—"* Git a move on yer, children—ye've got ter keep warm some- _——how. Thar ain't a morsel 0° wood nor coal in ther cellar—so skedaddle!"" ae Actor (placing candle in stovl)—"' I've worked off this Jos on the stage many a time, but | never supposed I would ve to come down to the real thing.”” COPYRIGHT 1902 BY JUDGE COMPANY OF WEW YoRK. ‘ . > "7 'Bunco-man—' Well, if dis ain't the greatest {mitation of real anthracite; an’ it's only a pavin’-stone coated wid tar. Watch me'ketch de rube wid It." WHILE THE PRICE OF COAL IS UP. Rich sanxer—"' Let go of that coal! I have the right to that. Besides, you have only one measly cook-stove to feed, while | have a furnace, two ranges and three parlor-crates to keep me warm.” Sochertd Widelns Lite & Pog Co New York comicbooks.com