Judge — December 11, 1915 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "A Jitney Christmas" This Judge magazine cover from December 11, 1915 appears to satirize the "jitney" phenomenon—small, inexpensive buses that competed with established streetcar and taxi services in the 1910s. The cartoon depicts a disheveled Santa Claus surrounded by scattered debris and wreckage, suggesting that jitneys have disrupted the holiday season and traditional transportation systems. The "jitney" was a major social concern of this era, as these cheap five-cent rides undercut established transit monopolies and created traffic chaos in cities. By associating jitneys with Christmas disruption, Judge ridicules their dangerous, chaotic impact on urban life and commerce, portraying them as destructive to the holiday economy and public order.