Judge — March 20, 1920 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Dry Toast" - Judge Magazine, March 20, 1920 This cartoon satirizes **Prohibition**, which had just begun (the 18th Amendment took effect January 1920). The title "Dry Toast" is a pun: the men are attempting to make a celebratory toast, but with water or other non-alcoholic drinks instead of alcohol. Three formally-dressed men sit at a dining table, raising glasses that appear empty or contain only water. Their expressions look disappointed or forced—the humor lies in the contrast between the formal dinner setting (suggesting refined celebration) and the grim reality of Prohibition's enforcement. The cartoon mocks how Prohibition eliminated alcohol from social gatherings, making traditional toasts awkward and joyless. It's political commentary on the unpopular new law that most Americans opposed.