Judge, 1910-12-24 · page 18 of 24
Judge — December 24, 1910 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge magazine page satirizes the tourist experience of early 20th-century America, specifically airship travel across the continent. **The Main Cartoon:** An airship guide delivers patronizing commentary to Eastern passengers, mocking their ignorance about the West. He dismisses romantic myths—no buffalo stampedes, no gold-scooping, no attacking bears—revealing the region's actual transformation into industrial farmland and Mormon settlements. The guide's condescension peaks at Salt Lake City, where he makes an off-color joke about Mormon polygamy ("hold tight to your wives"). **The Satire:** The humor targets both tourists' naive expectations and Western stereotypes. The crowded guide treats passengers like children, repeatedly correcting their misconceptions while remaining intentionally crude about Mormons and Chinese immigrants. **Supporting Content:** Smaller items mock age-lying women and praise the magazine itself—typical period filler humor. The overall tone reflects 1910s attitudes: civilization has conquered the "Wild West," but regional stereotypes persist.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
To the left is St. Louis, also East St. Louis; adjacent to it, beyond, is Kansas City. To the right are Minneapolis and St. Paul. Kindly do not mix them up until we are well past. That yellowish streak is the Missouri River. The attendant has sou- venir bottles. “All the country before and below, checkered with yellow and green, is the Great American Desert, plowed up and planted. No, sir, that dull, murmurous sound is not buffaloes on the stampede. You are from New York? I thought so. It is steam thrashers at work. No, bub, those ain't Injuns on the warpath. Those are cowboys herding dairy cattle. See their automabiles? Passengers kindly keep their high hats inside; the cowboys some- times shoot at them. “Toat bumpy ridge ahead, with white streaks on it, is the Rocky Mountains—the celebrated backbone of the North American continent. We are about to pass directly over the city of Denver. The hissing sound you hear is people wetting their lawns. Those little dots moving so rapidly about are tourists. That grayish-green wart, south, with the white tip, is the famous Pike’s Peak, named because from it you can see Pike County, Illinois. The speckled appearance is more tourists, gathering rocks and flowers for souvenirs. Now, in crossing the Rocky Mountains, we shall do so low enough for any one in the car who wishes to pluck posies at snow-line. There, lady, you got a nice one; and so did the AN UNEXPECTED APPEARANCE. ** Come on, fellers ! Santa Claus is comin’ down the chimbly in his airship."* JUDGE gent. No, I never heard of anybody scooping up gold. No, grizzly bears rarely jump aboard. “The next corner is Salt Lake. About here is where we usually meet the San Francisco ‘Seeing America’ car, eastbound. There she comes! Wave, everybody! Hello, Jim! Full house, eh? Ha, ha! Hold tight to your wives, gents; this is Salt Lake. No offense intended, of course, to any Mormon aboard. All religious faiths have their good points. That is the Great Salt Lake — that splash there. Drop out, anybody who likes, and dip a bot- tle of it; but don’t drop in, or you'll be ina pretty pickle!’ Ha, ha! We are now over Salt Lake City—the City of the Saints. That large procession, looking like ants, is really a Mormon family taking the chikdren to the circus. This spire, with the gold angel on top, is the Temple. What's that, sir? You'd like a piece of it? Of the angel? No, the attendant doesn’t carry it in stock. “Now I expect, before we are across the desert which lies ahead, some of us will wish we were over Milwaukee. Don't drink that Missouri River water, lady. It's a souvenir. All right, then; at your own risk. But we'll be in San Francisco No, sir, there is no danger of earthquakes this high up. ***Frisco, 'Fris- co! San Francis- co! Everybody out! Wait till the car stops, lady. Wait, wait! Not responsible for property left in the car. A check- room is provided in the station. Easy, Mike! All out, everybody out! Tothe right is Nob Hill, to the ‘left the Chinese quarter; take your choice. One hour for refreshment, then we start back, over anen- tirely new but most enjoyable route, by way of New Orleans."” soon. Friend (to editor of humorous weekly aside, I think yours is the best comic paper publishe A DOUBTFUL COMPLIMENT. ) —'* No, old man, laying all jokes jished."* “* Forget It.” , oe RGIVE and forget,’’ is a motto By which it is goodly to live. If first we but did the forgetting, No need would there be to forgive. What We'd All Like To Do. oe IR HEAVEN'S sake!"’ we exclaim, * on seeing our friend emptying a small package of cayenne pepper over his ‘What on earth are you doing that fo “I'm going,’’ he tells us, between his clinched teeth, ‘‘to go into the washroom of the Bejinx Hotel, where that officious at- tendant always insists upon whacking you with a whiskbroom.”"’ waperessen Tantalizing Girl. ARY had a little peach ‘A-blooming in each cheek, But always kept them out of reach If kisses one did seek. A Blank Filled Correctly. oe HEN Lizzie Timms filled out her application blank to teach school,”’ laughs the neighbor, ‘‘she wrote on the line asking what her age was, ‘My age is twenty years old.’ Wasn’t that a ludicrous mis- take “Oh, I don’t know. You misunderstand it. She was honest. She was giving th age of her age, not of herself. She has claimed to be twenty for about that long.”’ comicbooks.com