Judge — December 3, 1927 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Studies in the Naive III" - Judge Magazine Cartoon This cartoon satirizes a small-car owner exercising their legal right of way in traffic, apparently with disastrous consequences. The illustration shows a small automobile at an intersection with a "Main St." sign, confronting a larger truck. The caption's ironic phrase "who had the right of way—and took it" suggests the humor: while the small-car owner was technically correct legally, asserting this right proved foolish or dangerous in practice. The satire mocks naive idealism—the assumption that legal rights guarantee safe outcomes in real-world situations. The "Studies in the Naive" series likely examined people who rigidly followed rules without accounting for practical hazards, particularly relevant during the early automobile era when traffic rules were still developing and enforcing them depended on everyone's cooperation.