Puck — April 30, 1879 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Puck cartoon satirizes the temperance movement's "moderate drinking" compromise position. The page shows three scenes: **Upper panel**: A courtroom or official setting where two men (likely temperance advocates) discuss their strategy, with spectators in background. **Left panel**: A sleeping drunk man labeled "LIQUOR," suggesting the movement's ineffectiveness. **Lower panel**: A desperate saloon keeper holding signs advertising cheap drinks ("10 Cents," "Half Price," "Drinks During Business Hours") to a small figure, captioned: "I must break in the 'Moderate Drinkers' movement, or be ruined!" The satirist argues that the "moderate drinking" compromise actually *helps* the alcohol industry by legitimizing drinking rather than stopping it—making the saloon keeper's business sustainable. The cartoon mocks the movement's naïveté.