Judge — October 17, 1931 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is a satirical cartoon titled "Little Known Occupations: Fur Trapping for the Women's Coat Trade." The illustration depicts an urban rooftop scene where figures appear to be catching rats or other small animals in traps and snares strung across the space. The satire mocks the fur industry's supply chain by suggesting that women's fur coats—luxury items—are sourced through crude, undignified urban "trapping" rather than legitimate hunting or farming. The rooftop setting, with clotheslines and modest urban architecture visible, emphasizes the contrast between the supposed elegance of fur fashion and the shabby reality of its procurement. The cartoon likely critiques both the fur trade's practices and the vanity of wealthy women who purchase these coats, presenting their fashion choices as dependent on unsavory, lower-class labor.