Judge, 1917-12-22 · page 9 of 28
Judge — December 22, 1917 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon depicts a military disciplinary scene: an officer interrogates a soldier about chronic tardiness to parade. The soldier cheerfully admits he has "any amount of excuses" but claims he cannot provide a *reason*—a witty play on words suggesting the soldier is simply unreliable rather than legitimately hindered. The satire targets military discipline and the absurdity of excuse-making during wartime (likely WWI, given the page's context). The humor lies in the soldier's Irish dialect ("sorr") and his brazen admission that excuses exist but rational justification does not—he's just habitually late. The surrounding "Notion Counter" column by Douglas Malloch contains brief wartime social commentary, including references to President Wilson, the draft, and the war's disruptions to civilian life. The page exemplifies *Judge* magazine's satirical approach to American wartime society.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
XUM WILLING, BUT— Officer—Now, can you give any reasons or excuse why you are continually late on parade? Delinquent—Well, sorr, I can give ye any amount of excuses, but rayson——I'm afraid I can’t oblige ye, sorr! The Notion Counter By DOUGLAS MALLOCH HE time is coming when wars will be fought almost T entirely under water and in the air. Then the rest of us will not be disturbed and can go right on about our business. As it is, a war messes up the place terribly. Our Mr. Wilson seems a good deal in the position of a man e sleep and then About the unluckiest man in the world is the exile who was brought back to Russia from serving a nice, quiet life sentence in Siberi An anti-draft orator at Davenport, Iowa, twenty ye Apparently the only draft he su ping was his own. The war is costing each American sixty cents a day, or twice enough to make the kaiser look like thirt ‘The first thing we look at in the morning papers is to see whe is leading the Russian league. It is all right to call a man a prince of a fellow, unle: a crown prince. They'll have to have the mud more than knee-deep to make the Illinois soldier boy feel at home. Time does fly. The female urchin you wanted to slap fifteen years ago you now want to marry. But Mr. Hoover ought to be willing to get along with one o” until after the war. With all her Zeppelins, Germany wasn’t able to do to Lon- don what the subway contractors did to New York. The ordinary preacher doesn’t preach solong—fora preacher. sent up for ded in stop- Postage stamps now cost three cents, but there doesn’t seem to be any improvement in the qualit There is never anything in the dining car as fresh as the porter in the sleeper. The worst about the free verse poets is that they are still free. I am in favor of a movement to supply rubber heels to milkmen. Tammany is now engaged in making New York safe for Democ Save the little scraps and we shall win the big one. Too Much - HAT’S the matter with Hinkerb; asks the friend. “He walks around in sort of a daze, shaking his head king to himself all the time. Has he had a shock of some and ta kind “T should sa; . His wife and children put up a job on him. They shook him down as usual for moncy to buy Christmas presents for the family, relatives and friends, and then put it all in a pool and bought something for him.” Community of Interests The lumberman and beeman should be friendly all their lives; For one of them has shingles while the other has the hives. Strickland Gillilan. Cheer Up! Cheer up! Even if it does cost you a cent more to mail a letter, remember that Senator La Follette may still frank his speeches through the Post Office for nothing. comicbooks.com