Judge — January 17, 1903 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This 1903 Judge cartoon satirizes Doctor Adolf Lorenz, a famous Austrian orthopedic surgeon known for treating severe bone deformities without surgery. The image shows Lorenz attempting to straighten a stubborn Democratic donkey (the party's traditional symbol) using his medical techniques—oxygen tanks and mechanical apparatus visible in the workshop setting. The satire mocks the Democratic Party as fundamentally "bent" or deformed beyond repair, even for a renowned specialist. By depicting the donkey as a "tough job," the cartoon suggests the Democratic Party's problems are so severe that even Lorenz's miraculous medical methods couldn't fix them. This reflects Republican political mockery of Democrats during Theodore Roosevelt's presidency.