Judge, 1906-05-12 · page 11 of 16
Judge — May 12, 1906 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Schlitz beer advertisement**, not a political cartoon. The page uses the "If You Knew" format to appeal to consumer logic about beer quality. The ad's argument: if readers visited the Schlitz brewery in Milwaukee, they would demand Schlitz specifically because of its superior manufacturing—filtered, aged, and sterilized bottles ensuring purity. This targets consumers concerned with hygiene and quality control, messaging relevant to the early 20th century when food safety standards were newly important to consumers. The decorative hop illustrations frame the text, appropriate for beer advertising. The tagline "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous" positions Schlitz as Milwaukee's flagship product, leveraging civic pride and the city's reputation as a brewing center. This is straightforward commercial advertising, not satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
What we know you would always say “Schlitz beer” when you order. If you could visit our brewery—as thousands have done— you would insist on the beer that is brewed here. You would want a beer clean— as ours is. You would want it filtered and aged as we doit. You would want to know that every bottle is sterilized—that it is pure— # asisevery bottle of Schlitz. The r That Made Milwaukee Famous. comicbooks.com