Judge, 1925-07-18 · page 8 of 37
Judge — July 18, 1925 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Satire Explanation This Judge magazine page satirizes anti-evolution sentiment and scientific ignorance in early 20th-century America. Columbus is prosecuted for claiming the world is round—a stand-in for Darwinian evolution, which faced fierce public and legal opposition (notably the 1925 Scopes Trial). The courtroom witnesses represent willful ignorance: claiming textbooks prove a flat earth, offering anecdotal "evidence" instead of facts. Columbus "proves" roundness through a trick involving an egg and alcohol, getting drunk jurors to agree—mocking how actual evolution debates devolved into absurdity. The bottom panel extends the joke: a teacher imprisoned for denying Santa Claus parallels being punished for teaching scientific truth. Both cartoons critique prosecuting people for contradicting popular belief, satirizing the broader cultural resistance to modernism and science that characterized the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Hang your clothes on a hickory limb, And don’t go near the water!” The Inside Dope on the Columbus and Egg Yarn N VIOLATION of a recently enacted statute, Columbus has publicly declared that it is his belief that the world is round. He is indicted and brought to trial. It is a test case, and has attracted wide attention. Consequently, the courtroom is crowded. A witness for the prosecution is being examined. Counsel for the defense: What proof have you to offer that the world is flat? Witness—Everybody knows the world is flat. In my school text- * books it says that when a ship goes too far out in the ocean it falls off into space, and I believe it. Counsel—Have you ever, in your personal experience, known .of such a thing to happen? Witness—Yes, indirectly. That is, my sister married a sailor and he went off on a ship and she never heard from him again. Counsel—That will be all. (All eyes are on Columbus as he takes the stand.) Prosecutor—What is your name? Columbus—Christopher Columbus. Every schoolboy and girl in genera- tions yet unborn will know and honor that name. Prosecutor—What’s your telephone number? Columbus—Circle 1492. Prosecutor—How old are you? What, in your opinion, is the shape of the world and, if so, can you prove it? Also, have you ever been arrested before? Columbus—Historians haven't agreed yet as to my age. Round. Yes and no. Prosecutor—Go ahead and prove it. Columbus—All right. Has any- body got an egg? Spectator (a restaurant counter man, forgetting himself)—How you wannit? Fried? Poached on toast? Judge—Order in the courtroom! Juror (to neighbor)—It looks bad for Christopher. He wants té prove the world is round with an egg. Who ever heard tell of a round egg? Prosecutor (waking up)—Your honor, I object to an egg being in- troduced as evidence. It’s liable to bring up the subject of evolution. Judge—Objection overruled. (After much cackling, the prose- cutor lays an egg on the table.) Well, to make a long story short, Columbus breaks the egg into a pitcher half filled with milk and into that empties the contents of a flask he carries on his hip. The whole is then mixed well and served to the jurors who agree, shortly thereafter, that the world is round and that it does revolve on its axis. Robert Cyril O’Brien “And what are you in for, my poor man?” “Ninety years. I was a high-school teacher and I told my pupils there wasn’t any Santa Claus.” comicbooks.com