Judge, 1925-07-18 · page 11 of 37
Judge — July 18, 1925 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Political Cartoon Analysis: The Scopes Monkey Trial This page satirizes the famous 1925 Scopes "Monkey Trial" in Dayton, Tennessee, where biology teacher John Scopes was prosecuted for teaching evolution. The top cartoon shows "scientists" discovering the "missing link"—a visual pun on the trial's central debate about human evolution and our relationship to primates. The "Tennessee Jottings" section uses absurdist humor to mock the trial's hysteria. It describes increasingly ridiculous consequences of mentioning monkeys: a woman indicted for calling her son a "monkey," a policeman fired for saying "monkey-shines," and organ grinders expelled from town. This escalating absurdity ridicules the trial's intensity and the town's apparent descent into unreasonableness. The bottom cartoon's caption—referencing someone passing "a statue of a hoss" (horse)—appears to mock the trial's chaotic atmosphere where even innocent comments could be misconstrued. Overall, Judge magazine uses exaggeration and dark humor to criticize the Scopes trial as an example of anti-scientific, provincial American religious fundamentalism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
iy LEUNG? N. L Scientists—Why, there’s the missing link we've been searching for all these years—" Tennessee Jottings A Dayton, TENN..woman, who in a moment of thoughtlessness called her son a “dear little monkey,” is said to have been indicted and will stand trial along with John Thomas Scopes. A policeman who told a group of youngsters to “cut out their monkey- shines” was dismissed from the force to-day. . It is reported that one of the lawyers for the defense, who de- clared in open court that one of Dayton’s leading citizens was trying to “ape” William J. Bryan, has ridden the rails out of town. All organ grinders with monkeys have been ordered to leave town. And yet, despite all precautions, there is considerable gorilla warfare between the two factions. George Bancroft Duren “ARI ’membah wheah dis happened on ‘count o passin’ a statue of a hoss.” ==—=comicbooks.com