Judge — October 16, 1920 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Happy Medium" - Judge Magazine, October 16, 1929 This cartoon depicts a library scene with three characters debating legal matters. The dialogue identifies them by role rather than name: - **The Flapper**: A young woman in fashionable dress, representing modern youth culture - **The Lawyer**: A stern older man in formal attire - **The Flappers' statement**: "Are all these books full of laws?" The satire appears to mock the disconnect between legal complexity and common sense. The lawyer's response—"Every one"—and the flapper's reaction—"Gracious! We must break a lot of them!"—suggests ironic commentary on how Byzantine legal codes make lawbreaking nearly inevitable for ordinary people, even the innocent. Published just days before the 1929 stock market crash, this reflects pre-Depression anxieties about regulatory overreach and legal absurdity.