Judge — February 21, 1903 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This political cartoon depicts a large pig in a top hat and coat labeled "OPPOSITION" holding papers marked "INJUNCTION" and "CONTEMPT OF COURT." The pig appears to be a capitalist figure confronting small working-class people outside a storefront marked as belonging to the "United Cigar Store Company." The satire criticizes wealthy business interests (represented as the pig) using legal injunctions and contempt-of-court charges as weapons against labor organizers or small business competitors. The impoverished figures below represent ordinary people or small dealers being crushed by monopolistic corporate power and the judicial system's support for big business. The cartoon critiques how wealthy monopolies exploited legal mechanisms to suppress economic competition and labor activism during the Progressive Era.