Judge — January 6, 1923 — page 18: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts an exaggerated monument to a pedestrian, suggesting that pedestrians have become extinct due to automobile traffic. A grotesque figure stands atop a pedestal in a barren landscape, arms raised in distress or surrender. Below, numerous automobiles crowd together chaotically, implied to be the cause of pedestrian demise. The satire addresses early 20th-century anxiety about rapidly increasing motor vehicle traffic and its danger to pedestrians. By framing the pedestrian as a vanished species worthy of memorial, the cartoonist critiques both the dominance of automobiles in public spaces and society's apparent indifference to the safety hazards they created. This reflects genuine concerns about traffic fatalities during the automobile era's explosive growth.