Judge — May 15, 1926 — page 19: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts a crowded waterfront scene where "Notary Public" signs are prominently displayed. The title "The Anglers" uses fishing as metaphor for the practice of notaries public soliciting business at harbors and piers. The joke targets notaries who aggressively pursued clients—particularly immigrants and sailors—to conduct business like document notarization and legal witnessing. The cartoon shows these notaries as opportunistic "anglers" literally fishing for customers among the crowds near ships and docks. The scene satirizes how notaries would congregate at transportation hubs where vulnerable populations (arriving immigrants, departing sailors) could be easily targeted for their services. This was apparently viewed as an unseemly, predatory commercial practice worthy of ridicule in Judge magazine's satirical commentary on American business conventions.