Judge, 1908-07-25 · page 14 of 16
Judge — July 25, 1908 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the 1908 U.S. presidential succession. President Theodore Roosevelt ("Teddy") is stepping down and endorsing William Howard Taft as his successor. The centerpiece is a mock vaudeville show featuring: **Main figures:** Roosevelt (solo), William Jennings Bryan (the recurring Democratic challenger), and various Republican candidates including Taft, Charles Evans Hughes, and others mentioned in the chorus. **The satire:** Roosevelt and Bryan are portrayed as entertainers in a "Grand Triumphal Procession" with absurd props (Democratic Donkey, Big Stick, Band Wagon). The songs mock their political ambitions—Roosevelt confidently hands power to Taft; Bryan repeatedly tries and fails ("spider's incarnation"). **The joke:** American politics is presented as cheap vaudeville entertainment rather than serious governance. The elaborate theatrical staging ridicules the candidates' posturing and the predictable nature of electoral cycles. Secondary pieces mock ethnic stereotyping and frontier attitudes, typical of the era's casual prejudice.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OUR NATIONAL VAUDEVILLE. GRAND Triumphal Procession, con- sisting of Teddy, Bryan, Presiden- didates, the G. O. P., the the Democratic Don- ‘ame Rabbit, a Molly- ly Bears and the E coddle, 1 nd Wagon. Precupe in D Fiat py THE Banp Wacon. SOLO HY TEDDY. H, I soon must But don’t ery, my ery, For I trust instead you'll have big Billy Taft. Though I'm serving my last term, The country need not squirm In the greedy, graceless, grudging grasp of graft, CHORUS BY PRE: ENTIAL CANDIDATES. eedy grasp lexs, calm, be He will save ux by th Who will gavern ux each da In hin calm, benignant wa-a-a-ny h, Ray! for the calm, benignant Taft! entation of an Elephant Hunt in Afr 3. OJP. and the Big Stick, in which the former sh ame Rabbit and the Mollyeoddl * Our Most Famous ¢x-President Teddy, the Teddy agazine article and writ an SOLO BY BRYAN Lam Robert Bruce's spider's ines ne day be the ruler of this 1 yeh T try till ninet HP get there jgood and ple happy in this swee twenty, ty, tuations, enonus. Oh, he's happy, very happy! He's a really noble chapyy! He may wait tll nineteen hundred twenty-thre-e-e-e, He's x very xelfalenyin® at it maker un feel like eryin’, Thaugh we've really yet more rapturans than he, Exhibition of unsuccessful bronco busting: by Bryan and the Democratic Donkey, to the acco mentof the Funeral Mareh by the Band Wagon. DUET RY TEDDY AND HIYAN: What a pit-y! Neither will b President next y n't make it in’t it qu ald be united through some wit a really lovely President we Yet if we sh Just think what uotil he spi Aysinie work of 5 cnorus. Cha-arley Hughes ! dJo-oxeph Folk t La Follette and Cortelyou! Root and Knoz and Fairbanks, too! Aren't you glad you needn't be Pre-e-esident ? Gnanam nawiny. ALL BETS OFF. T WAS on the Third Avenue elevated, and the five figures of this tale were riding up town, “T° bet you five dollars,” over there in the corner is a Pole He pointed to a long-whiske: a peddler's pack between his f “T'l go you,” said Smithe: an Armenian,"* “Let me in on this,"? said Phillips. -dollar bills in convention assembled in my vest pocket dee isa Russian, “And I will build that pool up to twenty bones that he is a put in Robinson, Do cried the othe aid Brown, ‘ that that old chap -d foreigner sitting opposite, with “I've got five dollars that says Hun and Robinson, being the nervi member of the party, was delegated to put the question as to his nationality to the old man himself, “Vot? Me?” said the object of their int question,‘ Vot ? toog owd dher bapers. est, on hearing the Vy, I vass an Amerrigan—I only shoost a IN OKLA. HOMA. GEYHAT do ye think of the new ten derfoot? ed Alkali Ik “Well, I should 7 take him yt" finest exam f irony on record: ix that of the who we our serv 1 intelli- EVEN A PEW CHANCE REFLECT THAT NEWSPAPER ADs. off UNIVERSAL PRESENCE. THE USE OF THE TUB. ae WO Irishmen, fresh from the bs T land of the b 7 yyment as porters ina nil hotel inthe The first morning, being ry. th obtai emp new wntorn city. full of the hotel's wl be commer After ut bed in par- to the bath, sked shining: tub, miring, the fi ticular, th An’ phat's this? oth For a mom one, pointin MU his compa dl with furrowed forehead at tub; rman, hi Thot musht be phere they kape th’ baby.” mn then, leaning: toward whispered, 66] ET doc 1 it off, rs, testing a patient, J his wife's unfinished piece of faney for insanity. comicbooks.com