Judge, 1931-08-01 · page 6 of 36
Judge — August 1, 1931 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers The top cartoon satirizes workplace efficiency obsession. A judge observes someone being violently expelled from a drug store, captioned "What have you got for lice sting?" The accompanying story "Forbisher" mocks a boss's obsessive cost-cutting: calculating that retrieving dropped pins saves money (0.008 cents per pin). The satire targets early 20th-century industrial "scientific management" crazes, where employers nitpicked trivial savings while creating absurd workplace policies. The lower cartoon shows someone holding a large handkerchief, captioned "Your handkerchief, madam!" The bottom feature, "Sunburn Remedy," offers folk advice about treating sunburn with vinegar and staying indoors—light humor about summer complaints. The page satirizes American business culture's extreme cost-consciousness and managerial fads of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Your handkerchief, madam!” Forbisher + was really remarkable that none of us thought of it before. Perhaps it the simplicity of the thing that e led it to elude us. It certainly was simple, as Mr. For- bisher, our efficiency expert, pointed out. P.,” he said to me, ever seen a clerk or bookkeeper stoop over to pick a pin or paper clip from the floor “T have seen a bookkeeper do it,” T admitted, “but 7 ‘have you sher said. that 1 pin from . I suppose the simple act of retrievi the floor cost your firm exactly 0.008 cents 2” Great Scot, Forbisher! incredulous. Great Scot indeed,” Forbisher an- d. “IT have estimated that each pin and paper clip is worth 0.013 cents. The average pay of your clerks and bo« rs is 0,007 cents per second, It requires three seconds to pick up a pin—try it yourself, J. P. Three seconds of the clerk’s time is I replied, worth 0.021 cents to you. Conse- quently 0.008 cents is simply shot to the devil when a member of the office force picks up a pin!” 4 It took me some time to grasp it. “Heavens on earth,” Lejaculated, “it’s true, Forbisher, it’s true, And think of the loss when old MeMurtrie re- trieves one. He weighs three hun dred and it takes him at least a minute to get something from the floor.” ed. hat is he said. “Suppose » before hours, of course, to to your office with a carton of pins. The carton would cost you 24 cents.” Forbisher was plea: not JP" come “LT know where [ could get one for TL informed him, vlendid !” he « continue, you come in each morning with a ton of pins, You remove the lid and dump them on the floor, You forbid the clerks to pick them up. For every pin that is not picked up we couraged ine, save 0.008 cents! There are, roughly, three thousand pins in a carton. Three ht is twenty-four. My dear think of it. Your gain for the day would be 24 cents, clear!” We tried it fo Forbisher is with the McEdison people now. I understand he has eliminated their ice bills by keeping the drinking water in frosted bottles. Brilliant chap, For hisher, but a little too visionary. —Grorcr M. New a while. Sunburn Remedy uere’s vinegar, salves or healing oil To ease the sunburn’s hurt, But the thing that’s best whea the sunshine broils Is just to keep on your shirt. —c. C. | comicbooks.com