Judge — August 16, 1930 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This cartoon from *Judge* magazine satirizes environmental mismanagement or water resource depletion. The caption reads: "They used to be a river twenty mile away, but I think they've drained the water off." The scene depicts what appears to be frontier or rural figures (drawn in exaggerated caricature style typical of early 20th-century satire) discovering a dried riverbed. The absurdist humor lies in the deadpan acceptance of an environmental disaster—casually attributing a river's disappearance to someone deliberately "draining" it. The cartoon likely critiques either: industrial water usage, poor water management policies, or environmental carelessness during America's development era. The specific historical context—which drought, industrial project, or policy this references—remains unclear without additional dating information.