Judge, 1912-09-21 · page 4 of 24
Judge — September 21, 1912 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the 1916 U.S. presidential campaign, specifically targeting Woodrow Wilson. The cartoons employ baseball and war metaphors to mock Wilson's candidacy. **"Wilson and a Few Pets—That's All"** depicts Wilson surrounded by insects/pests, suggesting he's surrounded by ineffectual supporters or problematic policies. **"The National Game in Russia"** compares Russian warfare to baseball, with bombs replacing balls—dark satire on war's brutality contrasted with American pastimes. **"The Eloquence That Carries Them Off Their Feet"** shows a politician hypnotizing crowds with rhetoric, critiquing campaign speeches' manipulative power. **"The Autug of War"** remains unclear but likely mocks wartime mechanization. The article criticizes Wilson's campaign activities as distracting from serious governance, while satirizing Americans' obsession with baseball despite global conflict.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WILSON AND A FEW PETS—THAT'S ALL Cartoon Topics. UDGE this week pictures in car- toons, as it pictures regularly, some of the topics uppermost in the conglomerate public mind at the moment. The interest in politics is always said, during a campaign, to be ‘‘at fever heat.’’ But no candidate has yet called a doctor, and the contest goes merrily on. All the candi- dates are busy, and if one is not playing golf he is making speeches, so that the combined activities are by no means monotonous. Mr. Wil- son, as the caricaturist sees him, is active with mosquitoes, which are unusually native to New Jersey, and in this particular case they are unusually attentive to Mr. Wilson. The caricaturist has named these aggressive little creatures ‘‘Free Trade,’’ ‘‘Initiative,’’ ‘‘Referen- dum” and ‘‘Recall.’’ They will pester this candidate even beyond the season for frost. Baseball is on every bulletin board and in almost every mind. The season for the game is nearing its close, and hope and despair al- ternate here and there as to cham- pionships and the money that goes with championships. There is grim humor in the artist’s notion of a national game in Russia, where BILLBOARD THE NATIONAL THE ELOQUENCE THAT CARRIES THEM OFF THEIR FEET. =e THE AUTUG OF WAR. GAME IN RUSSIA, bombs take the place of baseballs and the Czar swings his scepter in- stead of a bat in self-defense. In- cidentally, while the few who do not like baseball may deplore the common and sometimes the frenzied interest shown in it by citizens of these United States, a philosophical consideration of the subject will lead one to believe that a baseball is a far more desirable article of manufacture and use than a bomb. A picture not inappropriate to the political season is that of a spell- binder exercising that brand of elo- quence that carries his hearers off their feet. It is to be hoped that no spellbinder will so hypnotize the public this year that voters will be carried off their feet, for this isa campaign when sober thought should discount what is sometimes called “chin music.’ Another fancy of the artist is called ‘‘The Autug of War.’’ While machinery of new designs is all the time crowding old mechanism of war into the scrap heap, no one can tell just what device will next at- tract attention. This sort of exper- iment is expensive to the nations that indulge in it. But let it be hoped that war has really become obsolete, no matter how elaborate the preparations for it here and there among the nations may be. comicbooks.com