Puck — October 31, 1877 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This 1877 cartoon satirizes a labor dispute involving cigar manufacturers. The caption quotes Puck (the magazine's mascot): "If these are the things I've got to smoke, I'll strike, myself." The cartoon depicts cigar makers in what appears to be a workshop, with one figure holding up a poorly made cigar as evidence of the strike's impact. The joke plays on dual meanings of "strike"—both the labor action and the act of striking/hitting. The satire criticizes either the quality of strike-replacement cigars or suggests that even the magazine's mascot would protest working conditions by refusing inferior products. This reflects late-19th-century labor tensions and consumer concerns about product quality during labor disputes.