Judge — October 17, 1925 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Judge Magazine Page This page contains three separate satirical cartoons mocking early 20th-century American culture. The top cartoon titled "Why the Civil War?" references a contemporary disagreement between **Dr. Frank Crane** and **Arthur Brisbane** (both real public figures) over "mother love"—satirizing how trivial intellectual disputes escalate into major conflicts. The "Funnybon**e**s" section mocks tabloid journalism's sensationalism and class hierarchy: owing $5 makes you a "piker," $5,000 a "business man," and $5,000,000 a "government"—suggesting wealth and power are arbitrarily defined by scale. The bottom cartoon, "The perfect crime," shows newspaper staff (labeled Editor, Photographer, Head Writer, Reporter, Distributor) struggling with a crashed airplane labeled "Journalism." The joke appears to be that destroying the press itself would be the ideal crime—a dark satire on journalism's unpopularity or perceived menace to society at that time.