Judge — March 5, 1921 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Judge Magazine Cartoon (March 5, 1921) This cartoon satirizes New York City's immigrant business community. Two figures—likely representing established American businessmen or society—stand before a tall building covered entirely with nameplates of foreign merchants and importers (Weiskweis, Van Dusen, Povoloski, Dudovich, etc.). The caption "What Tower Is That?" / "That's the Tower of Babel" makes the biblical reference explicit: the Tower of Babel symbolizes linguistic confusion and cultural disorder resulting from multiple languages. The satire critiques the dominance of immigrant entrepreneurs in NYC commerce during the early 1920s, implying their presence creates incomprehensible chaos. This reflects period anti-immigrant sentiment and xenophobic anxieties about foreign business interests displacing established American commerce.