Judge, 1931-02-14 · page 11 of 36
Judge — February 14, 1931 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine Page Analysis This page satirizes Prohibition-era politics and enforcement, circa early 1930s. **"To The Coast Guard"** mocks the inconsistent enforcement of rum-running: smugglers should target foreign vessels to avoid diplomatic complaints, not American ones. The Niagara Falls reference blames Republicans for infrastructure failures. **"Wickershamania"** (the main article) ridicules Henry Wickersham, likely the Prohibition Commissioner, for contradictory enforcement policies. The piece sarcastically catalogs absurd inconsistencies: the government permits Swedish alcohol limits but prosecutes gin smuggling; it won't regulate broadcasting but restricts college women with flasks. The convoluted prose mocks bureaucratic nonsense—eleven commissioners can't agree on repeal versus enforcement, yet somehow regulations multiply. **The cartoons** illustrate Prohibition's failures: one shows police/officials ignoring obvious smuggling ("Sh-h-h—Winchell, officer!"), another depicts reckless black-market distribution ("show a little appreciation anyway!"). The overall satire: Prohibition enforcement is hopelessly hypocritical, contradictory, and corrupt, benefiting criminals while punishing ordinary citizens and creating administrative chaos.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE To The Coast Guard Goer, if you must, our own rum- ‘7 runners, But spare the foreign craft, you gun- ners, Each time you sink a forei The government receives a note. —R.C.O. Now that part of Niagara Falls has apsed, we have something else to blame on the Republican Administra- tion, € And why wouldn't it be a good idea to stage these weekly fights between the Reds and the police for the benefit of the unemployed? ie “Sh-h-h—Winchell, officer!” ‘ “Oh—O., K.” Wickershamania ur Commission is opposed to the federal or state govern- “nts, as such, going into the liquor business, but it likes the Swedish plan of four quarts of rye per month, although it views with alarm the two-dollar gin served in night clubs New Year's Eve, and four commissioners state there is a deplor- ible lack of evidence that liquor can be procured in chain Stores or through any national broadcasting company, and Radcliffe College girls are not allowed to tote flasks to class- rooms, but that a tall gentleman in a high hat was seen stag- gering into Childs last Whitsuntide, to say nothing of eigh- teen thousand letters from citizens of Cleveland and Detroit voicing approval of the dandy paper bags which the Toronto Banoar Linn Liquor Control Board wraps around William Teacher's High- The expressman takes his baby for a ride. land Cream and White Horse, so that paragraph eleven immediately follow- ing paragraph ten and just preceding paragraph twelve recommends that the first seventy pages of the report be turned over rapidly so that the 1,400 prohibition agents are not added to the unemployment problem along with six of the eleven favoring a re- vision or a repeal and five out of eleven favoring an out-and-out revi- sion, provided that the other members are for it, and with three out of eleven in favor of free beer without a heavy lunch and pickles thrown in, and with Mr. Baker signing on the way to the Mediterranean, and that Congress shall have power to regulate or to pro- hibit or to permit the use of intoxicat- ing liquors in the committee rooms of the House, but not in the cloak rooms of the Senate unless otherwise speci- fied in paragraph eleven, unless the President should see any serious ob- jections to pretzels and liverwurst or else. —Donatp Bacnart “C'mon, palooka—show a little appreciation anyway!” comicbooks.com