Judge, 1920-09-11 · page 9 of 32
Judge — September 11, 1920 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Labor Problem" — A 1925 Satire on Worker Demands This satirical piece mocks the perceived arrogance of laborers in the 1920s. Mr. Blank, a wealthy contractor seeking to hire a carpenter (Mr. Blink) for minor work, is shocked by Blink's wage demands: ten dollars hourly, triple overtime pay, no Saturday work, and provided meals—plus requirements for references and threats of striking. The humor inverts typical power dynamics: the desperate job-seeker becomes the demanding party, while the employer is reduced to supplication. The accompanying comic strip shows various scenarios of a "close friend" spending a day together, likely illustrating wasteful leisure that contrasts with the carpenter's high-maintenance work expectations. This reflects post-WWI labor tensions, when unionization and worker organizing gained strength. Judge magazine, a conservative publication, used this piece to ridicule what it portrayed as unreasonable worker demands and entitlement—a common editorial stance among elite publications opposing labor movements.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ALwavS ON TUE YO B6CORT WS YOUNG LADY FRIEND HOME PROM Ter MOVIDS Dracn by Mess Weastus a A Crose Fatexy Srexos a Day—Tuat’s At } The Labor Problem j By Wiuas Huse. Jr. Li Trp, 1025. Biank: Huh! TIVE scene is an office furnished luxuriously, if a little Bunk (hastily): Please understand me. I don’t require any floridly. Mr. Blank sits with his feet on a makogany — great degree of skill or speed. I'd be happy to have you do it desk. He is smoking an opulent cigar. The door opens in your own way and take your own time to it. & 45 a boy ushers in Mr. Blink, who steps in hesitantly, hat in hand, Biank: Whaddye pay? Bunk (timid/y); Good morning, sir. Bur The regular scale: ten dollars an hour for a five- BLANK (without taking the cigar from his mouth or his feet hour day, triple pay for overtime, no Saturda? work—and we from the desk): G’ mornin’. Wha’ c’n I do fer yuh? have an experienced chef who prepares your lunches. Bux: I thought—that is to say, I hoped—I might be Bank: Well, leave me the names o’ some men that have able to persuade you to do a little work for me. worked fer yuh. If they give yuh good references, I'll think it Bank (hostilely): Wha’ " 0” work? over; an’ if us boys ain’t called out on a strike meantime, I might i (cringing): Oh, nothing—really nothing at all. Just drop aroun’ t’ help yuh in a week ’r two, see? a little bit of carpenter work. I’m a contractor, and a build- (Exit Blink, murmuring incoherent expressions of gratisude.) ing I’m putting up needs a door or two, and a few windows— Curtain ee rete “Very secretive, “ Astoundingly so! Why, he will not even reveal his inmost “How’s that?” secrets to total strangers in the smoking room of a Pullman car!” Petunia tavern. “Tt isn’t now.” A Freak i A Problem Concerning a Triangle is he not?” “ Briggs is quite a mathematician.” “He's been figuring in a divorce suit lately.” Its Way Not Any More “How has the weather been here the past week?” asked “You recollect the story of the man who ordered thirty the recently arrived guest. dollars’ worth of ham and eggs?” “Oh just sort o’ cynical,” replied the landlord of the “Yes, that used to be a joke.” ee AMD NSATE “HAT & BOIS WAL CaMOke APTICIN 1S HEALTHFUN