Judge, 1916-06-17 · page 5 of 28
Judge — June 17, 1916 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top cartoon satirizes rural inefficiency. A farmer ploughs a field while well-dressed visitors observe, asking "What are you ploughing this field for, my man?" The farmer replies "Dollar'n' a half a day"—suggesting he's working inefficiently for minimal wage. The piece criticizes how agricultural practices waste resources and labor, likely reflecting Progressive Era concerns about modernizing farming methods. Below, the text "At Last!" argues that efficiency experts should reform rural domestic life, which the author views as stagnant and wasteful. The surrounding poetry and commentary mock romantic notions of love while promoting practical, economical living. The small cartoon shows an absurd creature, captioning skepticism toward pseudoscientific ideas popular in the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
> eS We “What are you ploughing this field for, my man?” At Last! T LAST it has come. The leading ficiency expert of this gloriously ent country of ours has trained his guns upon the poor, meck house- wife. The home, that gentle bulwark of all our hopes and our happiness, is to be re- duced to a barren waste of efficient act ity. Every little movement is to be cali- pered and carved on until it fits snugly into the daily routine, like a dutiful, peace-at- any-price husband. Home life is to become like a placid river that flows majestically on and on and on. We had hoped and prayed all along that our mothers and our wives might be spared. We had trusted, foolishly perhaps, that there might be saved to us one unprofaned spot where we could indulge ourselves in spontaneity and uselessness. But we might have known that our hopes and prayers were vain. We should have seen that efficiency thrives on just the kind of insignifi- cant detail that makes up the bulk of home duties. Anybody could have told us that it was only a matter of time until some efti- ciency expert, desperate for material, would be snooping around the sink and the kitchen cabinet, counting steps and leering at need- tivity. This assault upon the house- , Whether successful or not, will leave the y open for an outrageous survey of mother love. We await with considerable anxiety what the exper: have to say about the ut and the futility of all the beautifully useless little things that mother does for her sons and daughters. —H.W. D Symptoms HEN a young man thinks that a doll-like face And a picture hat in trimming drowned, With never a brain about the place, Is the center that the stars go round That is love, that is love! When a young girl thinks that some five feet eight Of cheap conceit and rawness blent, With its talk and its trousers up to date, Is this old world’s supreme event— That is love, that is lo —Walter G. Dot Our government is not a pure democracy, but it gets by the Food Inspectors. “Dollar'n’ a haff a day.” Prery Little Bit Added _Lucile— Well, ‘1 “Should say! Why, she'd up her honeymoon trip, so that her husband could save up for her alimony. A traitor is a man who makes love to a woman’s lap dog. a Don’t let this weird thing startle you; It’s only something I have * peed And there's no use to cut a caper, Since it can’t get off the paper. sar es Augur. comicbooks.com