Judge — April 12, 1919 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Political Cartoon Analysis This 1920s satirical cartoon by F.W. Kemble depicts a skeletal Uncle Sam figure standing triumphantly over fallen bottles and barrels labeled "Saloon," "Bliss," "Joy," and "Sarsaparilla." The eagle above him holds a banner reading "Sarsaparilla" while Uncle Sam brandishes a sword labeled "Bone Dry." The cartoon celebrates Prohibition's passage, satirizing the temperance movement's victory. The skeleton imagery mocks what the artist appears to view as Prohibition's death-dealing effect—killing the spirits industry and the pleasures associated with drinking. The bones underfoot represent businesses destroyed by alcohol's prohibition. The title references a "Heroic Group" planned for Washington, sardonically equating Prohibition advocates' perceived righteousness with heroism, while the artwork itself ridicules their achievement as skeletal and death-bringing rather than victorious.