Judge — August 19, 1916 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Barbed Wire Entanglements" This Judge magazine cover from August 19, 1916 uses a visual pun about World War I. The title "Barbed Wire Entanglements" refers literally to the barbed wire obstacles that defined trench warfare in Europe—but here depicts a couple literally entangled in barbed wire between two fence posts labeled "HIGH COST LIVING." The cartoon satirizes how American couples are trapped by rising prices and economic hardship during the war period. The man and woman's struggle to escape the wire while maintaining dignity reflects the broader public anxiety about wartime inflation and its effects on everyday Americans. The image suggests that economic "entanglement" poses as serious a threat to citizens as actual military obstacles do to soldiers overseas.