Judge, 1916-06-03 · page 9 of 28
Judge — June 3, 1916 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece uses Jewish immigrant characters (Markowitz, a skirt manufacturer, and Henry Shapiro, his bookkeeper) to mock middle-class anxieties about children's futures and gender roles. **The Setup:** Markowitz worries his son Lester is a failure—poor grades, only good at running—and can't support a family. Henry dismisses the concern, arguing a boy's success doesn't matter since women will soon become breadwinners anyway (a jab at the suffrage movement). **The Satire:** The piece ridicules both: 1. Immigrant parents' obsession with financial security and "respectable" careers 2. Contemporary anxieties about women's liberation and changing gender roles The counterpoint photograph shows carefree hikers, suggesting modern youth enjoy freedoms their parents' generation never had—a contrast to the characters' Old World concerns. **Context:** Written when women's suffrage was actively debated (pre-1920), this reflects period anxiety that female voting rights would fundamentally alter family economics and male authority.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SSW Mle mis Enters FIRST AID TO THE INJURED THE GENTLEMAN FARMER'S SERIES His young stock is exercised and cared for according to up-to-date methods. MARKOWITZ AND HENRY DISCUSS THE FUTURE OF A BOY by LOU RAB ENRY, what should I do with my Lester?” asked Max “Worry about what a goil’s going to do? Never!” interrupted Markowitz, the skirt manufacturer, as he nervously paced | Markowitz. “A goil’s got only one business. So soon as she com- up and down his pinocle-library, one Sunday morning. “He got mences to be old enough fo look in a looking-glass and play with a 4 report from school, with such a bad rating, that if I would get it from a cus- tomer, I would cancel all future deliveries right away. and telephone my lawyer to get a judgment with an attachment quick. In every- thing Lester gets rate ‘D’. The only thing he does good is—run. But what’s the fachless, what's going to become from him? You can’t support a wife with styles and children with vies by running as an errand boy all your life!” and children!” mockingly repeated Markowitz’s bookkeeper and brot worrying how he’s going to support a wife By the time he gets marricd, may be the Suffras be the bosses and his wife will support him and the chil- dren. You better worry about pretty little Florence, she’s She—These long country hikes are so delightful! Ove feels so carefree, so # goil and ”’—— unhampered, so unrestrained. comicbooks.com