Judge, 1914-06-20 · page 7 of 24
Judge — June 20, 1914 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Satire (top text):** A humorous proposal suggesting that passengers' jaw movements while chewing gum or talking could generate electrical power for streetcars—with fares reduced based on "voltage contributed" measured by chin-rest meters. It's mocking both the era's enthusiasm for electrical technology and people's constant chewing/talking, suggesting politicians' jaw-flapping could actually be useful if harnessed. **"Fighters of Class" cartoon:** References the famous 1910 heavyweight boxing match between Jack Johnson (African American champion) and Jim Jeffries. The child's question asking if General Grant could beat Johnson reflects contemporary racial tensions—white Americans wanted Jeffries ("The Great White Hope") to reclaim the title from Johnson. **Bottom comic strip ("Rescued"):** A three-panel gag where a motorboat owner brags about avoiding tire troubles, then gets rescued from the water and is mocked by the same person he'd lectured about tire problems. The page blends technological satire with contemporary racial commentary and simple comic humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
to hoist an elevator loaded with ten tons of pig iron to a point seventy-eight times as high as the Eiffel Tower; or, if turned into electric voltage, it would suffice to run an automobile from the Flatiron Building in New York up to the Govern- or’s office at Albany and back, without restorage of the batteries. And surely if this be true —and who dares deny that it is so? —by what economies could you not profit in using the same energies for the running of your cars, especially during the crowded hours of the day? The objection that you may advance to my suggestion, that the public would not stand for so radical an innovation, could be met by reducing the fare of each pas- senger so contributing power, on a basis of so many cents off for so much voltage produced, the same to be ascertained by the placing of a small meter on each chin rest, which shall register the exact re- sults in crystallized energy contributed by the individual traveler. I offer the suggestion to you, gentle- men, for what it is worth, and should the proposition meet with your favor, I shall be pleased to submit working plans of the necessary apparatus as I see it. In any event, I may say in closing that if the activities of the lower jaw of the aver- age stump speaker can transmit power to the working efficiency of a political ma- chine, I can see no reason why the chins of our gum-loving brothers and sisters ay not also be harnessed up as I have suggested for the more materially useful and beneficial results as set forth above. Believe me, gentlemen, with profound respect and appreciation of your constant FIGHTERS OF CLASS ‘* Father, could General Grant have licked Jack Johnson ?"’ solicitude for the comfort of the travel- ing public, always, Your humble and obedient servant, Horace Dopp Gastit. Domestic Item “My house is so well organized,”’ said Mrs. de Graw, ‘‘that I don’t go into my kitchen once in a week.’’ “That's the pleasant way she puts it,’’ her husband expluined. ‘As a matter of fact, she’s afraid cf her cook.’’ Thirty Days WHEN thirty fleeting days have fled, When these few speeding days have sped, When thirty passing days pass by— There'll be a call to swat the fly. —Dizon Merritt. Well Batanced “What sort of bridge does she play?’’ “Cantilever; she never looks to her partner for support.’” “Hey, Sparks! get a motorboat and you won't be bothered with tire troubles,” “z—o!!—rx" RESCUED “ Well, well, Mr. Bilge, do you mind repeating your remarks about tire troubles ?"’ comicbooks.com