Judge — April 10, 1926 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Explanation for Modern Readers This Judge magazine cartoon satirizes drinking culture during Prohibition (the "Volstead" Act is referenced). The scene depicts a rural English village where tourists and locals openly flout American alcohol restrictions. The humor centers on the contrast: while Americans faced strict prohibition enforcement, British establishments advertised drinks freely. Characters discuss obtaining liquor multiple ways—"four short ones" instead of one large drink to avoid detection, or simply waiting until after dinner. The signs mock American hypocrisy: "Ye Olde 19th Hole Tavern" asks for "Louie," the "Smile-a-Mile" tourist spot promises "your own sludge next morning," and the cottage motto boasts they have pre-Prohibition liquor the Americans can't get. The joke critiques Prohibition's ineffectiveness and Americans' desperate measures to circumvent it, while highlighting how freely alcohol flowed across the Atlantic—making the American "wide open spaces" ironically more restrictive than actual foreign lands.