Judge, 1920-05-08 · page 7 of 36
Judge — May 8, 1920 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis for Modern Readers This page contains three separate humorous pieces typical of early 20th-century Judge magazine satire: **"You Know This Man"** (top): A four-panel cartoon about a man who keeps secrets from his wife but shares them with friends—illustrating the social hypocrisy of married men maintaining separate spheres of trust. **"Not if It Went by Post"** (dialogue): References Albert Burleson, Postmaster General under Wilson, mocking the slowness of U.S. mail delivery during this era. It's a dig at government inefficiency. **"An Unpleasant State of Affairs"** (poem + illustration): The verse satirizes anxiety-driven poor decision-making—investing unwisely, selling stocks too early, second-guessing oneself. The illustration shows men outside a cinema, depicting urban leisure culture. The satire targets how human pessimism and indecision undermine financial success. Overall, these pieces mock middle-class anxieties: marital duplicity, government bureaucracy, and financial self-sabotage through irrational behavior—common Judge themes reflecting Progressive-era concerns about modern life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
You Kxeow ‘Tris Mas forgets they are his. And yet. at times he witbabriintethis dearest Not if It Went by Post secrets to them, matters which he would never tell his wife! Flora—1 think Vil write a letter to Burleson and compliin ‘To them he will trust his wealth, his love letters, even his good about our mail service name; and suddenly, wealth and all, he will toss them aside, Fauna—What’s the use? He'd never get it! throw them down, only to want them back again the next day Yet to a woman who craves and years for only one, it is Wifey May Faint Hello, Doc. Lwish you would go right on up to my sternly forbidden. What is it? Inswer—A pocket Doctor—Certainly. Anything serious? An Unpleasant State of Affairs Jones Not vet; but there may be. ve just sent up a load of coal By Kexsetu L. Roserrs NPLEASANT mny life and heart-breaking my lot I'm under a terrible strain; For the weather is cold when I think ‘twill be hot And it’s dry when I think it will rain. When I think it will rain, it is horribly dry Now where is the mental defect Which makes me like that? [would like to know why Things never do what I expect! How often I notice with envious eyes ‘The sudden ascent of a stock And, thinking it’s sure to continue to rise. Invest with all speed in a block Whereat the stid stock tumbles down with a crash My hopes and my profits are wrecked And I am divested of most of my cash ‘Things never do what I expect! When, once in a while, a stock that Town Reluctantly starts to ascend. I constantly fear lest it drop like a stone And give me no profits to spenc And so I sell out when it’s up three But ere I have time to collect I sce it go leaping up twenty points more! ‘Things never do what I expect! or four, You'd think, when my judgment advises a move Phat U'd move in the opposite way? I've tried it, my friends; but such facts only prove Phat I always move wrong. as I say t I'm not even right when I think that I'm wrong All thoughts I am moved to reject; Drawn by A. Macunrum ve For though I may figure for ever so long, W hast Feats dives 3 nae get the plait el Things never do what I expect! in the t comicbooks.com