Judge — September 27, 1919 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "Any Club When Smoking Is No Longer Permitted" This F. Foster Lincolm cartoon satirizes the social consequences of anti-smoking restrictions. The drawing depicts a gentleman's club or similar exclusive establishment rendered nearly empty and gloomy—with only a handful of dejected men scattered throughout what should be a lively social space. The satire's point: prohibiting smoking would devastate men's clubs by eliminating the primary activity and social ritual that attracted members. The sparse, melancholy atmosphere suggests that without cigarettes and cigars, these establishments would lose their appeal entirely. This reflects early-20th-century debates over smoking restrictions, when such bans were viewed as threats to established male social institutions and leisure culture. The cartoon argues smoking prohibitions would render these spaces pointless and abandoned.