Judge — September 3, 1927 — page 17: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is an architectural cross-section drawing titled "The bricklayer who was too deaf to hear the quitting whistle." The illustration shows a multi-story building with a worker at the top and a pile of bricks at the bottom, apparently depicting the tragic result of someone who couldn't hear the end-of-workday signal. The cartoon is a dark humor joke about workplace safety and disability. The punchline hinges on the ironic misfortune of a deaf laborer who, unable to hear the whistle signaling quitting time, presumably falls from the building. It's satirizing both the hazards of early 20th-century construction work and the vulnerability of workers with disabilities in dangerous occupations. This reflects Judge magazine's tendency toward morbid, cynical humor about contemporary social issues.