Judge — July 30, 1927 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Man Who Believed Prohibition Was a Success" This Judge magazine cartoon satirizes prohibition enforcement through courtroom imagery. A judge presides over what appears to be a crowded courtroom or jail cell filled with numerous figures—likely representing arrested individuals or violators. The title's irony suggests that whoever "believed prohibition was a success" is the actual fool being judged. The cartoon mocks the failure of Prohibition (1920-1933) to eliminate alcohol consumption. Instead of reducing crime and vice as promised, Prohibition created overcrowded courts and jails while bootlegging and speakeasies flourished. The packed courtroom visualizes the policy's unintended consequence: massive legal caseloads, implying that prohibition's "success" was merely generating endless prosecutions rather than eliminating alcohol use.