Judge, 1906-12-29 · page 17 of 19
Judge — December 29, 1906 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is Judge's annual New Year's address to readers, not a political cartoon per se. The decorative illustrations frame editorial commentary on contemporary issues. The text references "Teddy" (Theodore Roosevelt) and compares him to William Jennings Bryan, suggesting Roosevelt—like Bryan before him—represents change or disruption. There's wordplay about "William and Willie" (possibly Roosevelt variants) and Hearst, indicating political and journalistic rivalries of the era. The editorial mocks "trial marriage," "simplified spelling" reforms, and recent social movements while celebrating humor as antidote to social change. It notes six million people "restless for a change" despite prosperity—likely Progressive Era reformers and labor activists demanding political reform. Judge positions itself as chronicler of contemporary absurdity, promising satirical coverage of the 1908 election conventions. The overall tone: bemused observation that the world grows increasingly strange, but laughter endures.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1907—TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL PROSPECTUS— 1907 'O ALL the people of the earth, and of the United States especially, friends for the most part, we trust, and enemies, if any, salutation and greeting. JUDGE, being duly sworn, upon information and belief deposes and makes affidavit as follows : ‘That we are upon the threshold of a new year when, for reasons of its own, the old earth is about to start on another lap through solar space. It’s a good long trip, and things are apt to happen before we come round to this point again. A motto for the journey, if you please, to wit: Some laughter mingled with your tears Will add both joy and length of years. Got that up all by ourself. Just came to us. Didn't have to think hardly any. Feel as if we were coming down with another case of the same: No life that laughs will ever know The deepest depths of joyless woe. Don't line up quite like the others. Look as if they might haye been sawed off at different times. We proceed. The world is getting funnier every day. The monkey- house, for instance. But we will let that pass. ‘There's war. Brother Gregory, of Richmond, Virginia, says 6,860,- 000,000 men have died on battle-fields since the time of Osymandyas. Never heard of him, but we believe Grego- ty. He says if Uncle Sam had cut out war we would be exactly $127,625,000,000 ahead of the game to-day. And yet Uncle Sam refuses to put up a few millions a year to whiten the seas with our merchant marine once more. 5 »\ Told you it’s a funny world... We pass on. Soon begin to elect delegates to the next national conventions. Going to be great times from now till November th, 1908. JUDGE will be where the fun is thickest. Country never had such prosperity as we are having now. Yet about six million and two people are getting restless for a change. It’s a funny world, all right. We hasten on. Simpletonized spelling ! Good old words made simple. Simpli- fied humor, too. You hear of it every now and then, The good old kind suits us. Same old sun travels up the sky every day. Same blush of dawn, same twilight pause that like a bene- diction falls between all toil and sleep. Same old appetite craves same old food three times per, plus a bite at bed-time. Laughter and tears have same old abiding-place and love stays just where it began. The thing that's wholly new is not much good, Let us continue. Trial marriage! Tandem polygamy. Orphan-asy- lum in every block. Lots of funny things in the old world yet. Our regards to Mrs, Parsons. We know she didn't say it, Not just that way, Funny, just the same. But we digress. THE NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMOR. Just a bit loud, but that's the way we feel. Never hide your light under the flour-barrel, you know, Maybe it's because we've just had a silver anniversary. “ You're getting there,” said friends from far and near, But we wander, There's “Teddy.” No disrespect. We love him. What'll he do next? It’s your guess, We're tired. Some say he's just where Bryan was ten years ago. All right; but Bryan was going the other way. “ Ted- dy" is coming. And then, there's Hearst. Or was? William and Willie went out to play, ‘They pleased the people immensely, Then first William strayed away And Willie soon followed thencely. Something awful, this poetry habit. But to resume. JupGE never had so many plans for the entertain- ment of his readers as at the threshold of this new year. More than ever he will aim to give expression to the real comedy of the times as it develops out of the politics, the society, the fads and foibles of the hour. Every humorous writer of note in Amer- ica is on the JupGE staff of fun-makers. The best comic artists are regular contributors, and JUDGE invites and encourages new talent everywhere to come forward with its work for a try-out with the public. JUDGE does not believe in nor foster a comic trust. To all the friends of mirth, the fellow- ship of laughter, the healthy souls who be- lieve you can drive out more wrongs from the world with a smile than with a frown, to the host of the common people who are now as al- ways the chief patrons of good humor, greet- ing and best wishes for a happy new year. comicbooks.com