Judge — March 18, 1905 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This two-panel Judge cartoon satirizes Jewish and Irish immigrant tensions in early 20th-century America. **The Setup (March 16):** A Jewish clothier named Batterstein (caricatured with Yiddish dialect) worries his clothing inventory won't sell, threatening financial ruin. **The Punchline (March 17):** His son Ikey proposes selling the clothes to Irish people during the St. Patrick's Day parade. The cartoon's title suggests the parade "stopped"—implying the Irish community's reaction to this Jewish merchant's attempt to profit from their celebration. The satire mocks both groups: the Jewish merchant's desperate commercialism and the Irish parade's presumed disapproval or disruption. It reflects contemporary prejudices and the competitive economic anxieties between immigrant communities in American cities, presenting their cultural celebration as an opportunity for cross-ethnic exploitation and conflict.