Judge — June 29, 1918 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Are We Coming to This?" This cartoon by Walter de Maris satirizes the elimination of retail change-making. The scenario shows a customer asking a salesman for change, only to be told "Sorry, sir, but we don't give change any more." The title's question—"Are We Coming to This?"—suggests this was a satirical warning about a potential future practice. The cartoon critiques what would have been a controversial retail policy: refusing to return change to customers, presumably keeping it as profit or encouraging exact-payment purchases only. The drawing's style and the magazine's satirical nature indicate this was meant as social commentary on emerging retail practices that readers would have found absurd or objectionable. The cartoon warns against normalized customer exploitation disguised as business convenience.