Judge, 1911-03-11 · page 7 of 24
Judge — March 11, 1911 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Judge* satirizes early automobile culture and consumer complaints circa 1900s-1910s. **Top cartoon**: "Wear and Tear" mocks a chronic complainer who gripes about shoe costs while wearing out his trousers sitting idle—Stokes deflates his grievance by pointing out he wears his pants through *sitting*, not walking. **"No Use for Steamer's Searchlight"**: References Shakespeare's *Macbeth* ("Out, damned spot") to mock automobile exhaust—the searchlight cannot penetrate the pollution. **"How to Find Motor News"**: A new car owner demands automobile news but the editor points out cars only appear in the financial section under "Mortgages and Failures," suggesting early vehicles were unreliable investments. **"The Lure of the Ad"**: Advertising claims each automobile is "best," yet purchasers' cars fail fastest—exposing false advertising. **"The Reflection of Mr. Skunk"**: Complains about automobile smell polluting streets, comparing fumes to skunk odor. Overall, the page satirizes both consumer gullibility and automobiles' real problems: unreliability, pollution, and financial risk.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Wear and Tear. by JOR CONE E SET around in Stokes’s store, Until it seemed he must be sore; An’, yit, he allus seemed to talk How hard it wuz fur him to walk, An’ often he wuz heard to say How awful much he hed to pay Fur shoes an’ rubbers, while he cust The leather an’ the rubber trust. “It does beat all,"’ he to Stokes, “How much it is a-cos folks To shoe their feet! Ef this keeps on, I'll be a bankrupt soon, I swon!"’ Then Stokes, he says, ‘*Thet may be true. I wouldn't fret, ef I wuz you, About the price uv shoes,’’ says he. “The price uv cloth would worry me An’ then he ast Stokes what he meant, An’ Stokes says to the idle gent, “You wear your trousers on the seat More than the shoes upon your feet!" “It's an outrage, Maria! NO USE FOR STEAMER’S SEARCHLIGHT. ** Out, d——— spot (light) ! How To Find Motor News. Subscriber (who has just bought a car) —''Say, what's the matter with this sheet of yours?) Why don’t you print some real live automobile news—some- thing that people are interested in?” Editor—‘‘Why don’t you read the paper and find it? Here it is, right at the top of the seventh page—‘ Mortgages and Failures of Yesterday. The Lure of the Ad. UTOMOBILE ads. remind us Each machine's by far the best, But the one that we purchase Breaks down quicker than the rest. THE REFLECTION OF MR. SKUNK. Out, I say !"'—Macbeth. Evidently Faulty. 667PHERE'’S something wrong about that new car you sold me,”’ says the man with the exuberant ears to the automobile agent. “*How’s that ?”’ asks the agent. “I drove it two hundred miles yester- day and didn’t have any trouble at all with it.”” COOK, whose last name was Babbit, Read how to make pie out of ral bit. Mix salt, lard, and flour, Then bake for an hour— But first you must go catch your rabbit. One can hardly stand it to walk on the streets nowadays because of the rank smell from these automobiles."" comicbooks.com