Judge, 1919-10-25 · page 7 of 36
Judge — October 25, 1919 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Political Context Explanation This Judge magazine page satirizes **women's suffrage ratification**, likely from around 1920 when the 19th Amendment was being debated state-by-state. The main text mocks politicians—specifically referencing a Massachusetts Senator and Senator Penrose—who publicly opposed women's voting rights but are now scrambling to support ratification to save their political careers. The satire's point: these hypocrites who argued *against* suffrage for years now pretend they championed it all along, coaching constituents to vote for them based on false support for women's rights. The "handwriting is on the wall" phrase suggests ratification is inevitable, forcing cynical politicians to perform sudden conversion. The three comic vignettes below are unrelated domestic humor about wedding gifts, labor demands, and romantic rejection—typical Judge filler material. The satire targets political opportunism and hypocrisy rather than endorsing or opposing suffrage itself.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Drawn by Avcust Hexxen Mabel—Have you. decided what to give Ethel for a wedding present? Next time will make the dozen. Mand—I always give her three solid silver spoons. Did you, like the Senator from Massachusetts, talk vol- uminously year after year against this amendment? Did you have Presidential aspira- tions? And are you, too, now dumb? Or did you, like Senator Penrose, gloomily remark, “Yes, I know it’s coming. is death. Why hasten And are you, too, working throughout your state, now, for ratification ? Are you, too, proud that America has passed out of the archaic period; are you, too, eager to do all you can to prove that your state is demo- cratic? Ah, yes! Ah, yes! Even if you were one of the thirty-four “wilful Senators” who voted against the appeals of the Administration to save the Party for the Senatorial election, you have done and do, have been and are all the foregoing, and now The handwriting is on the wall. You are pulling off your coat to get at the work of convincing your con- stituents—both actual and potential —that the women of your state must no longer be denied the privilege of voting for You. Time is Money Factory Superintendent — What's this? A demand from all the men for eight hours overtime at double pay? Casey—Sure. Didn't we all turn out to the boss’s picnic Sunday after- noon? What Did She Mean?—Edith—This new hat I bought is a perfect fright. Marie—I'm sure it becomes you, dear. —Boston Transcript, A Drawn by W. K. Starretr—A. C. How did Jack take it when you turned him down?” . id that he hadn't thought, when I was knitting him socks, that later I would give him the mitt.” 7