Judge, 1904-10-29 · page 5 of 20
Judge — October 29, 1904 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This comic strip satirizes Theodore Roosevelt's presidency through a dream sequence mocking his perceived arrogance and radical policies. "Nervy Nat" is a caricature of Roosevelt, depicted as a pompous, power-drunk leader who boasts of rewriting the Constitution and dismisses democratic norms ("capital offense to engage in manual labor"). The satire targets: - **Corruption**: Nat celebrates tax-dodgers and grafters in his opening address - **Police reform**: His dismissal of police as vermin requiring elimination - **Class warfare**: Mocking wealthy industrialists (Pierpont Morgan, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Russell Sage) whom he simultaneously courts - **Absurd policies**: Giving Filipinos American states, eliminating manual labor - **Hypocrisy**: His claimed concern for "the people" while socializing exclusively with the wealthy The final panel reveals it's a dream—a common satirical device suggesting these fears are exaggerated but reflect genuine anxieties about Roosevelt's executive power and progressive policies. The humor depends on understanding Roosevelt's actual presidency (1901-1909) and contemporary political debates.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Qgooococege ‘ FLURALIT LF LW Nerve Nat—"'Fellow-tax-dodgers and grafters, in honoring me you do but honor yourselves. I solemnly promise you | won't do a thing to the constitution, I have always cherished a sneaking idea that | could have written a better one, and now the sovereign souvenir of the push has given me the opportunity. Amongst other things, | intend giving the Filipinos Nebraska, Arizona, Brooklyn, and the subway.” 2. Nervy Nat—"'This is where | gloat—'tis my initial act as president. Step lively, boys! No crowding! ‘There's room for you all. The streets * need cleaning, and I'm cleaning the cops up first. Broadway will be much pleasanter now. The sidewalks and crossings used to be actually littered with these creatures. The last administration was too namby-pamby. Tve got the interests of the people at heart.” Nervy Nat—"' Drop that pick! Do my eyes play me false? Have you the supreme effrontery to stand there with that ignoble tool and actu- ally work? You underdone American! do you realize the enormity of your crime? Hasn't the news trickled Into that fibrous upper end of you that since I was elected president it {s a capital offense to engage in man- val labor? Back to the Waldorf!” 5. ‘Ah, shut up, Chauncey! | heard that chestnut in 1877. ; I've hada hard day. Pierpont, hold that finger-bowl up higher, you lobster! or I'll veto that bill of yours to-morrow. Tell Jim- mile Hili and Andy Carnegie to come see me to-morrow—I want ‘em to subscribe to build a country-club for old hobos in Central park. Say, it was a clever stunt of mine to use the Waldorf for the executive shebang— ch, what? You boys come around to-morrow night. Uncle Russell Sage is going to give gold bonds to all the tramps in New York, and Carrie Nation ‘ll give a skirt-dance."" 4. Nervy Nar— Ah, Mr. Pingpong Sockerfeller, caught in the act, by Jove! How dare you take a bath? Ignorance of the law does not excuse you. Ah, you may well cower there in your sopping guilt! If | hadn't got a tip from my water-works commissioner that there was a bath In progress in your house you would have gone on and completed your guilt. {Come in, my men! Here's your man. We've got him wet-handed."* 6. Orricer O'TooLe—" Come, come, Nat! Yez can't shlape here all day.” ” Nerve Nat—""Oh, don’t say I've been sleeping—that it was only a dream—that | wasn't elected! And I was just going to get Dr. Parkhurst to open a faro-oint next door to Bishop Potter's saloon! You've no idea what a sad blow to civilization In the United States you struck, O'Toole, when you woke me up!" NO. 46.—NERVY NAT'S ELECTION DREAM.