Judge — December 3, 1910 — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

JUDGE by thousands, while every avenue was jammed with an inextric- { automobile trucks, moving vans, garbage s. tion was simple, The able mass and gen moment Bry nation had packed up the thousands of miltions of useless Christmas gifts that had been accumulating for years, and had sent them junk included all the things given The expl ssured cvery 1 vehicles of all sorts. n's election was and woman jn the Washington. These masses « by dear relatives and touchy friends; pillows that were in hideous taste, furniture that was rickety from the moment it entered the house, gift books with glaring covers, manicure sets that would not manicure, and ten million other things—topped by shaving stands, toy typewriters that never worked and were never 1 embroidered slippers, paper lamp shades, framed chromos; in fact the whole vast list of articles de Christmas. It was the chance of epoch to get rid of them, on the plea that th all existing Chi ‘ant to work, sufferers supposed the new law require 1s presents to be sent on to Washing But the problem confronting Mr He was stalled in Hoboken, and every avenue by which he might Bryan was indeed serious reach Washington was congested with Christmas presents, E railroad and every wagon Virgi 1 Maryland was block with this ex-Chris shipping ington told him that the ( sight nly the tip of th Monument stuc the tidal wave of discarded yp hefore he could reach the White House th ‘ t would be buried beneath the awful eh: and neckties as vivid In that moment Pennsylvania A wireless me f was already buried out of bulky as steamer trunks which wa mfiture. The ra ‘ 1 rail tr and hi but he was not alone in hi railways of the country scemed to threater stocks fell in Wall Street with dull the Then, inan old white bi gin the far treet of finance, a hasty meeting of money kin and half an hour later three req of the meeting were in He " Mr Py E was nece nd Mr. Bryan, in his distres ed the only mear relief, and within two hours the “Merry Christmas shioned resentatives Bryan greed. s was held to what see Limited.” had been incorpo: New Jersey, to take over the wees were on their way Christmas trust, rated under the laws of the sta’ whole Christmas business, « Two Sides of a Question 1. HURRAM, UNCLE 2. BUT HOW ABOUT THIS CHRISTMAS DINNER. The action was radical, but it was necessary. Begin- ning at the out- skirts of Hoboken, 1 working with vered haste, the discarded Christ- mas trash was dumped alongside the roads and burned. By night New Jersey had heen ‘cleaned of Christmas débris by the ny of trust employees. In less than a week the were running into trains Washington regu- larly. Once 1 J an saved the nation! What followed Was cruel, but NO’ MARNEY THIKINS, OWING TOA REMARKAM nds of in- enthusiasts were in the penitentiaries, Christmas trees surreptitiously, ed tree ng life sentences for buyin the forest preservation law, ss, the Christi and with cold bloc contrary nd under a convict labor law hastily passe trust assumed absolute control of these poor being the whole burden of the nation's Chri Ly Cong Jed but necessary cruelty placed upon the mas giving and receiving. Masters with hull-hide whips stood c¢ stantly over the heavily ch what, previously, the free men and. w obliged to do with suffering and pain tok cir gangs, calling out in a loud voice r of the day! Convict No. 9880 w present Aunt Martha; N 34 will represent Little Willie: 2 will be Cousin Sarah; No. will be Uncle Hezekis 0. 23.452 will he Sister Maude. Ready all! Then, as the biting lash was laid across their reluctant iiders, the poor fellows, white with prison pallor and ed of their cruel task, would get out their pads and pen- 1 Convict No. 9880, representing \unt Martha, would point of his pencil and mumble dejectedly: Six dollars, If I that’s two dollars; and Lcompelled them to do noof the land had been ined slaves. morning the overseers To wor mme sce! T've got six dollars give Little Willie a rocking ho Cousin Sarah a manicure set, that’s two fifty more; and Uncle Hezekiah a walnut smoking set shaped like & pig and a pail, that'll be three dollars and for Sister Maude a nat four dollars; that’s two, four fifty, seven fifty, eleven Eleven fifty. and I've only six dollars to spend. Ch, Oh, dear!” would bury his head in his hands, and moan don’t know what to give Aunt Martha: I n't think what to give Uncle Hezckiah! What in the world I give little Willie that he hasn’t got?” Each day the poor fellows were ¢ list, and if they failed, they were beaten unmercifully and put on bread and water, turday each had to receive the ut worthless and unsuitable presents that his fellows had chosen for him during the week, and grin with sickly pleasure, and utter hypocritical praises and thanks, Only the threat of thumbscrews kept them up to this task, which fc any years the free inhabitants of the nation had been obliged to undergo each Christmas npelled to make out a nd every But even the trast had some mercy in its veins, When a convict had served faithfully year after year, and had gone about his work with sad but valiant “Merry Christm: greeting cach minute of each day, and had received and given presents and worked slavishly over Christmas lists until the sharp bones protruded through the skin and the light of Continued in Advertising Section.) comicbooks.com