Judge, 1925-06-06 · page 11 of 36
Judge — June 6, 1925 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Rum Row Refrain" - Prohibition-Era Satire This poem by Arthur L. Lippmann mocks **Prohibition** (likely the 1920s ban on alcohol sales). "Rum Row" refers to the famous offshore smuggling operation—ships anchored twelve miles beyond U.S. jurisdiction where alcohol was legally sold and then illegally brought ashore. The speaker romanticizes working on these smuggling vessels, celebrating the irony that alcohol is freely available just outside American waters while the nation enforces "drouth" (drought) on land. References to "Scotch," "muscatel," "champagne," and "ale" emphasize the absurdity: expensive contraband liquor ($13/quart) thrives despite legal prohibition. The poem satirizes how Prohibition created criminal enterprises rather than eliminating drinking—it made alcohol more desirable, expensive, and associated with seafaring adventure. The nautical language ("tar," "gob," "floating bar") humorously treats smuggling as romantic work. This is political satire criticizing Prohibition's failure and the hypocrisy of a law everyone ignored.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Rum Row Refrain Tre breezes blow on old Row— Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of port! I go on watch to watch the Scotch That sells for thirteen bucks a quart. T sniff the smell of muscatel And fragrant fumes of seasoned rye— Oh, twelve miles out where ale and stout And champagne Neptune glorify! Rum T'd be a tar on a floating bar And hear the plop of a popping cork, Twelve miles south of the (hic, hic!) drouth That some think parches old New York. Let me join the crews that bring the hooze; Tet me ( cockleshell, For my soul's athrob to be a gob Where the wind has an alcoholic smell! !) tend bar on some Arthur L. Lippmann Hush little Gimme, don't you ery, You'll be an Igot by and byt Froorwatxer (on holiday)—Good morning, Madam, what may I show you this morning? A Testimonial To the Editor— Dear Sir: Two days ago I lost my pocketbook ,containing nearly $100 cash. Immediately I inserted an advertisement in your paper and awaited results. ‘That night I went home and found the pocketbook in the trousers of another suit. Who says it doesn’t pay to adver- tise? Mrs. Hasenfeffer’s Recol- lections of Her European Trip France Psvs—Met Mr. and Mrs. Reyn- olds of Cedar Rapids on the Rue de La Paix. Bordeaux—Met Dr. Tompkins of Duluth with his niece from Omaha. Germany Berlin—Met Mr. and Mrs. Me- Carthy from Boston and Mr. and Mrs. Henderson of Philadelphia, together with Mrs. Brown of Utica. Stuttgart—Mr. and Mrs. Benson stopped at the same hotel. Cologne—Had a lovely time. Met Mr. and Mrs. Brown and Mr. and Mrs. Jones. Ttaly Venice—Went riding in gondola. Passed Mr. and Mrs. Me New Rochelle on the Grand f England London—Didn’t hit. Not a single couple they knew from the United States was there. KRAZY KRACKS Meive a sentence with the word Ivory” me down, but why a 1 Trory?” * the city one comicbooks.com