Life — November 19, 1885 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Political Cartoon Analysis This is a satirical cartoon about Prohibition, likely from the 1920s-early 1930s based on the "PROHIBITION" label visible on a shield/emblem in the center. The cartoon depicts a demonic or monstrous figure wielding Prohibition as a weapon against a group of people approaching a cityscape in the background. The satire criticizes Prohibition as a destructive force—portrayed as something evil or harmful rather than protective. The caption fragment "IS IT PROHIBITION OR..." and reference to cutting someone "loose" suggests the cartoon questions whether Prohibition itself is the real problem, mocking the policy's consequences. The cartoonist (signed "W.A. Rogers") depicts Prohibition's enforcement as tyrannical and socially corrosive, a common anti-Prohibition argument during this period.