Judge — January 31, 1925 — page 21: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a futuristic satirical cartoon imagining planetary real estate in the year 2000. The aerial view shows Earth at center with three celestial bodies as advertising pitches: **Mars** advertises massive population (6 quadrillion) and "regular people" building there—mocking overpopulation anxieties. **Saturn** promises ideal living: no taxes, self-governance, no mortgages—satirizing Americans' desire to escape taxation and bureaucracy. **Jupiter** offers "all year round" pleasant weather and even mortgage availability—absurdly extending American consumer culture to space. The character "Home, James..." suggests a servant/driver, possibly indicating class commentary. The cartoon satirizes 1920s-era anxieties about crowding, taxation, and suburban expansion by literalizing the escape fantasy—if Earth becomes uninhabitable due to overpopulation, people would colonize other planets. The tone mocks both real estate hype and the American impulse toward endless expansion.