Judge, 1919-05-24 · page 6 of 32
Judge — May 24, 1919 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Romance of the Letter and the Telegram" Analysis This satirical story by G. M. Murray contrasts the slow, unreliable postal service with the faster telegraph system. The narrative follows a letter and telegram both sent from San Francisco to New York on the same day. The letter gets lost in postal delays and misdirection (ending up in Canada), while the telegram successfully reaches its destination. The humor mocks the inefficiency of the U.S. Mail—a persistent complaint in this era. The accompanying cartoons illustrate the postal service's failures: one shows a letter carrier dropping mail in a "germ-filled bag," another depicts a chaotic street scene labeled "Did You Ever Stop to Think?" The piece advocates for the telegraph's superiority as a communication method, reflecting early-20th-century technological progress and frustration with outdated mail infrastructure.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
slot in the side of the mail- car shouted: * Hello in there! Take this telegram down with ya, will ya? Wires are all clogged up with stuff about Gov'ner Smith's di he’s took sick.” And so it happened that, one fine summer day, the letter and tel arrived together in an office building. The man to whom they were addressed had died they went, united by ac to the d letter office. And there, for all I know, they reside to this day. Unionized Truth “TL see the bartenders’ union “What is it?” Compared Dentist—Mow did you like it when I pulled that tooth? Patient—It was like the of Nations; the idea was good, but I don’t like the Drown by Uy. Maven Romance of the Letter and the Telegram = b#«« y it was drawn By G. M. Murray Be Calm, My Dears NCE upon a time, a telegram and a letter left San Francisco for New York on the same day “How long before the next war? The telegram started off in a cloud of dust, “Oh, a long time yet. Don't expect them to settle this peace while the poor letter lay and fretted in a dusty corner — conference in a hurry.” Pretty soon, a nice postman hap- pened on the un- fortunate _ letter, and dropped it in a dark, germ-filled bag But th ter didn’t. min cause it wante catch up with that tele; ure enough, while it was so- journing in Chi- “Has lived here all your life, 280, it bumped little bo into it. “Not yet It overheard a man in the mail- car say: “Hey, Bill, where in Hades’d this come from?” It looked up and—would you believe it?—the naughty man was holding that telegram in his hand! ‘They met again at Buffalo, where the letter, through a silly mistake, veered off to Canada, while the tele- gram died at the hands of a sleepy operator in Albany. The cold in Canada was very unpleasant, as winter lasts a long time up there, and you can just bet the letter was glad when it too got to Albany. At the very instant when the train was leaving, on a beautiful sunny May morning, a voice through the “Dip You Ever Stop to Tuinx?” ->>- Dewen ty J. Ke Barass Drawn ty C.D. Bareui@