Judge, 1920-05-15 · page 9 of 36
Judge — May 15, 1920 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Placing the Blame" This satirical piece critiques how responsibility for wartime profiteering and inflation gets deflected through the supply chain. The cartoon illustrates three parties blaming each other for high prices: 1. **The Wholesaler** claims innocence—he merely sold goods at market rates 2. **The Retailer** points to the wholesaler's inflated prices 3. **The Consumer** (depicted as a working-class person, possibly Black, based on the term "Afmte") becomes the scapegoat The satire's bitter conclusion: society blames the powerless consumer for accepting exploitation rather than holding profiteers accountable. The final stanza suggests the consumer, accustomed to mistreatment, passively accepts blame he doesn't deserve. This likely addresses post-WWI or wartime inflation dynamics, where middlemen profited while common people bore economic hardship—a classic deflection of responsibility from powerful to powerless.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Nerrnerk Do They Spix barberry hedge, if itis barberry. Ile is going good now ind saying yood-night as if he could keep it up indefi- nitely The approaching dawn, the clattering milk man with tis tinkling jewelry, the chance policeman still up, any f these may nip the good-night structure in the bud He slowly plods his homeward way and she goes blinking n to hit the hay Of all the indo » the best—if you Lou Tellegen looks and outdoor sports, good-nighting an go without sleep and feel like The Merchant of Venice With characteristic avarice, Shylock demanded his pound of Hesh Then, of a sudden “Oh, noble judge, tu the court, I think Tl suger instead.” 1 thought struck him he fawned, leering; “if it’s all. the same ake three and a half of granulated Not Revengeful I sorter wonder why Gabe Slack married again say them other three wives of his'n treated him?” after the mused a cighbor. \w, L reckon he wanted to show that he didn't hold no grudge against womankind in gener'l,” replied Gap Johnson 4) Rumpus Ridge, Ark. All Writing “Oh, that mine enemy would write a book!” “Well, our late adversirics are very busy!” the Bla sano Gibas 1-Th LE bss been investigated till we're positively sated With « plethora of facts to furnish him an alibi. Why, to hear his presentation of the present situation, There's a terrible temptation just to comfort him and ery When it comes to innocence He has all the evidence That old Jesse James would need to get a passport to the sky Placing Ry Sev Wholesaler I —-The Retailer He has got his clearance papers for his profitcering capers, And is freer trom suspicion than the skirt Jule Cacsur wed Why, he scems to think it funny we had thought him making money . On the provender he'd sold us since the cheaper days had fled He is innocenter yet Than the wholesile guy, you bet And the fellow who produces is as harmless as the dead. IL —The Consumer Now by that elimination and in spite of observation We have settled on the guilty guy—we've got the crook at last. We've confirmed the slimy rumor that the ultimate consumer Is the woodpile-hidden Afmte for the part of villain cast, Let me also pause to note He's so used to being goat He'll accept the insult meekly he s borne things in the past.