Judge, 1920-03-20 · page 9 of 36
Judge — March 20, 1920 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Political Satire: Union Bureaucracy Run Amok This 1920s Judge cartoon mocks the absurd expansion of labor union power and regulation. The story depicts a "Director of Strikes" presiding over a surreal court case: a father is charged by the "Erroneous Toddlers' Union" for disciplining his son—allegedly violating union "playtime" rules by striking him with a non-union nightstick. The satire targets how unions, portrayed as increasingly bureaucratic and overreaching, have created elaborate rule books (with comically precise citations like "Appendix 5577, Volume 9") governing even domestic life. A policeman arrested without showing his "union card" becomes another absurdity showing unions claiming authority over law enforcement itself. The joke: unions have grown so powerful and regulation-obsessed that they now regulate everything—including how parents discipline children and which nightsticks are "union-approved." The drawing's grim bedroom scene contrasts with the farcical text, emphasizing how ridiculous these claims of authority have become.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Drawn by Warten De Mants Tost When By WL I HE Director of Strikes looked over his docket with a frown. The Representative of the Erroneous Todlers’ Union, Local No 4331, vs. Po- liceman John Brown,” he read out. The Representative took the stand. “If it please the Director, 1 was thrashing my son for violating the union rules by playing a half-b over the time adopted by the Amalgamated and Un Union of Playtime for Children, when this policeman grabbed me ina non-union manner. I charge him with using non-union language, and when I told him where to go, in accordance with Union rule 896,743, and in the way prescribed in bylaw 47,568, he hit me with a night- stick. [ further charge that the striking was done with a non-union night-stick.” A growl ran around the crowded room and weak Dreams Come CeLtar Stocks in the world is the matt True Heiman women and small childr nto edge timidly toward the door “Also, may it please the Direct Representative, “when he threater demanded he show his union card and “went on the me | t to arrest explained tl according to Appendix $577 of Volume 9 of the Rules ulations of the Grand Affiliated Unions of the n and Re World, it was strictly ag man to be arrested by any ¢: He refused to show his card.” ‘The murmurs in the room rose to a subdued roar and those nearest the unfortunate prisoner shrank back in abhorrence. “What happened then?” queried the Director, carching his pockets for his union toothpick. “This policeman called the patrol wagon, but when inst union rules for a u cept a union policeman. comicbooks.com