Judge, 1924-02-02 · page 9 of 37
Judge — February 2, 1924 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Our New God" by James Montgomery Flagg This cartoon satirizes American **Prohibition** (the Volstead Act, which banned alcohol 1920-1933). The central figure is a bloated statue labeled "Prohibition"—the "god" Americans now worship. The satire contrasts American missionary zeal converting "heathens" abroad with hypocrisy at home. Flagg argues that while Americans condemned foreign religions and imposed Christian morality on colonized peoples, they've now created their own false idol: Prohibition itself. The poem criticizes how Prohibition has become a moral crusade that: - Treats alcohol as the root of all sin (like worshiping Mammon) - Corrupts youth by making drinking forbidden fruit - Is enforced by supposedly virtuous congressmen who are actually corrupt - Makes Americans less "men" than the supposedly uncivilized peoples they missionized The two figures flank the statue: one presenting alcohol ("Unless thou comest across"), one refusing it ("Thou shalt not drink")—showing Americans' conflicted relationship with the law. The message: Prohibition is America's new false religion, no better than the "barbaric" gods Americans once mocked.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OUR NEW Mason of old was a terrible god And Moloch was pretty bad news, Bacchus, Baal and Priapus Weren't deities such as we'd choose. We Yankees have always been hot for re- form (Conversion of heathens and such) And the races we've introduced God to Have been grateful and thanked us so much! Our pet was the first Commandment And we thought, If that’s nifty for us, It’s niftier still for the savage; Let's make it unanimous! So we sent out sweet missionaries To Equator, North and South Pole And whoever were worshiping Raggedy Anns Were instantly knocked for a goal! But the ironic fate of us Yankees, Who pitied those barbaric clods, The tables are turned on us bigots— We bow to the damnedest of gods! GOD JANES WONEANERY RAGE The idol we bow to and worship Is an icon of theory not fact, It’s a double-faced Janus and fickle— And he’s dubbed the Volsteadact ! There are those who rail at the Catholics, Saying money buys smiles from a saint— Our new Yankee god prohibition To Croesus hands out his red paint! He's taught all our Mabels and Billys There ain't no such thing as a joy Unless it is boosted with liquor, Then life is worth living. Oh, boy! He who'd be warned by the tremens That warning no longer need fear, For a draught of our new god's hemlock Makes Gabriel blat in his ear! Those noble brained statesmen in Congress Those squires of virtue and truth, Have let loose a plague of black buzzards To prey on American youth! So give back their gods to the heathen And bid them strip naked again— They don’t try to patronize Christians, But, by God, at Ieast they are men! —James Montgomery Flagg. comicbooks.com