Judge, 1932-08 · page 6 of 36
Judge — August 1932 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine Page Analysis This page features satirical commentary on telephone company practices. The main letter from Henry Alfreds complains that the telephone company bills him $8.85 for "exchange service," matching his prior month's bill exactly—suggesting no actual service was rendered, just a duplicate charge. Alfreds humorously proposes the company simply mark bills "paid in full" to save on check-processing costs, arguing this benefits everyone equally. The top cartoon depicts people squeezed uncomfortably together, captioned "You keep out of this"—mocking crowded telephone booth conditions. The bottom cartoon shows a man being directed toward "Baby Beauty Contest" by an officer, appearing to confuse the destination—likely satirizing absurd misunderstandings or the frivolous nature of such contests. The satire targets corporate billing inefficiency and poor service quality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
r x A Letter to the Telephone Co. D™ Sirs: I was very happy to receive your bill this morn- ing as it relieved me of the necessity of sending out my bill to you. Your bill against me in the amount of $8. By a singular coincidence, my bill against you is also $8.85. So you see there is no need for us to out exchanging checks. Let’s each mark our din full” and file them y. This not only saves trouble, it also saves the government tax we would have to pay on our checks. A total of four cents may be a small item, but no company should feel itself too bi to effect an economy, no matter how trifling. By the w perhaps I had better explain what my bill is for, since this is the first time I have sent you one. Briefly, it is for exchange serv rendered during the past month; for patiently explaining to people that this is not the Elite Beauty Shoppe, that Mary isn’t here, that I do not have a second-hand vacuum cleaner for sale, that, in fact, they have the wrong number. I have been summoned to the phone so many times for such things that I have come to believe you are using this house as a terminal for the calls that nobody wants. I have given this service free of charge for a number of y but I feel that, conditions being what they are, I can no longer afford to do so. The money I expect to save on your bill will be used to employ detective to find out who puts those long “ay Looe f so distance calls through on my phone. You keep out of this. Trusting that you will see the matter from my view- point, I am Yours sincerely, Henry Alfreds 4 comicbooks.com