Judge — July 4, 1925 — page 18: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This comic satirizes American women's expectations versus reality of ocean travel, likely from the 1920s Prohibition era. "Betty" appears to be a naive American tourist boarding a ship ("en route" abroad). The humor targets several things: 1. **Steerage conditions**: The wealthy passenger mocks cramped third-class accommodations as the famous "steerage" she'd heard about. 2. **Prohibition hypocrisy**: Betty notices "saloons" still operating openly despite American alcohol bans, suggesting ships exploited legal gray areas at sea. 3. **Safety concerns**: Chained furniture and the rickety vehicle imply poor conditions and passenger distrust—realistic complaints about 1920s ship travel. The satire mocks both American tourists' privileged ignorance of working-class travel and the era's contradictions around drinking laws. The cartoon's target audience would recognize these as genuine grievances about transatlantic voyages of that period.