Judge — June 28, 1919 — page 15: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a satirical comic strip about a dachshund's attempt to become an American citizen during what appears to be the early 20th century—likely around World War I, when German-Americans faced suspicion and pressure to "Americanize." **The satire:** Charlie (a human character) puts the dachshund through absurd "citizenship" tests—teaching it American manners, having it renounce "German tricks," and attempting to transform its behavior and identity. The dachshund's German breed is treated as a liability requiring correction. **The joke:** The strip mocks both paranoid anti-German sentiment and the era's obsession with forced assimilation. It suggests the hysteria was so extreme that even a dog faced discrimination. The final panel shows Charlie instructing the dachshund to abandon "German tricks"—the implication being that suspicion of anything "German" was irrational, even when applied to a dog's natural behavior. This reflects real historical anxiety about German-Americans during WWI.