Judge — December 7, 1918

# Analysis This is primarily a **humorous advertisement** for "Judge" magazine, disguised as practical advice. The cartoon shows a couple completing Christmas shopping in record time while a clock displays the achievement. The satire targets **post-WWI economic anxiety**. The text mocks the government's hints that citizens should minimize Christmas spending to conserve resources—a reference to wartime or post-war austerity measures. "Judge" (the magazine's mascot/advice columnist) proposes a tongue-in-cheek solution: organize gift-giving into tiered lists ($5 gifts, $1 gifts) distributed through the magazine itself, supposedly solving the Christmas expense problem. The special mention of "soldiers and sailors" receiving extra issues reflects the post-WWI period when servicemen were prominent in public consciousness. The satire's real point: this elaborate scheme is deliberately impractical—it mocks both government frugality appeals and consumer anxiety about holiday expenses.

# Analysis of Judge Magazine, December 7, 1918 **Top Cartoon: "The Saint and the Sinner"** This depicts Santa Claus descending from an airplane (carrying military supplies) toward a snowy wartime landscape with trenches. The imagery suggests Santa bringing Christmas relief to soldiers during World War I, which had ended just weeks before this publication (November 1918). The juxtaposition of the jolly saint figure with the grim military setting creates ironic contrast—showing how even holiday traditions were overshadowed by the recent conflict. **Bottom Cartoon: "The First Trial Spin of Hubby's Christmas Gift to Wife"** A humorous domestic scene showing a husband's new automobile causing chaos—it appears to run over a Christmas tree and scatter flames, with his wife riding precariously. The joke satirizes the automobile as a dangerous, unpredictable Christmas gift.

# "Little Bobbie's Christmas Drive" This cartoon satirizes a charity campaign, likely from the early 20th century. Santa Claus is depicted reading a sign that says "DEAR SANTY GIVE UNTIL IT HURTS" — a solicitation for charitable donations presented as a Christmas appeal. The satire targets the aggressive nature of fundraising tactics. Instead of Santa representing generous gift-giving, he's confronted with a demand to give money until experiencing financial pain ("until it hurts"). The child figure ("Little Bobbie") appears to be conducting this charity drive, suggesting the irony of a youngster pressuring even Santa himself into reluctant giving. The cartoon critiques how charitable campaigns exploit holiday sentiment and goodwill, turning Christmas generosity into uncomfortable financial coercion.

# Analysis: "How to Write a Christmas Poem—In One Lesson" This is a humorous instructional article by Harry Irving Shumway teaching readers to compose Christmas verse. The piece satirizes sentimental holiday poetry by providing a formula using predictable rhyming words: "folly," "holly," "Yuletide," "bloke," and "mistletoe." The satire lies in Shumway's tongue-in-cheek approach—he acknowledges these are clichéd devices while demonstrating their inevitable effectiveness. The example poem ("Oh, darling love, accept this folly") exemplifies overwrought sentimentality Judge's readers would recognize in contemporary Christmas verse. The illustration showing various social classes reading the poem—from wealthy gentlemen to working families—suggests such verses appealed across society despite their formulaic nature. This is gentle social satire about mass-produced sentiment and holiday commercialism.

# Analysis of "The New International Pupil" / "Private Mulligan's Xmas" **Main Story**: A German schoolteacher addresses pupils about international peace and citizenship, arguing that violence should be replaced by dialogue and natural methods. The teacher appears to represent post-WWI efforts at teaching pacifism or internationalism to German youth. **"Private Mulligan's Xmas" Comic Strip**: Depicts soldiers (likely American, given "Mulligan") celebrating Christmas on the front lines during wartime, showing them exchanging gifts, relaxing, and wishing each other "Merry Xmas" despite military surroundings. **Satire's Point**: The juxtaposition appears ironic—the idealistic peace message contrasts sharply with the comic's realistic wartime celebration, suggesting tension between pacifist ideals and military reality during the WWI era.

# Political Cartoon Analysis This is anti-Bolshevik propaganda from Judge magazine's early Soviet period (likely 1918-1920s). The caption "The Bolsheviki Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out!" warns American readers of the communist threat. The menacing figure represents a Bolshevik revolutionary—depicted with exaggerated, monstrous features (beard, wild expression, weapon)—a common xenophobic caricature of the era. The figure threatens a small child in sailor outfit, suggesting vulnerable Americans faced danger from revolutionary violence. The cartoon reflects American Cold War anxieties following the 1917 Russian Revolution, portraying Bolshevism as a foreign, violent threat to American citizens and children. This represents typical capitalist-era American media demonization of communism and immigrants associated with radical ideology.

# "EATS" by Walt Mason — Judge Magazine This page combines two satirical pieces about wartime inflation and consumer hardship during World War I. **The cartoon** (left) depicts soldiers and civilians discussing impractical "trenches gifts"—including waterproof pianos and bomb-proof safety razors—mocking both the absurdity of war merchandise and profiteering. **Mason's essay** (right) uses nostalgic humor to critique wartime food prices. Pre-war, customers angrily confronted bakers over pie costs; now, humbled by inflation and scarcity, that same man meekly begs the butcher for prompt delivery of liver and soup bones, grateful for any service. Mason's point: wartime shortages and price-gouging have so beaten down ordinary citizens' expectations that they've abandoned their former righteous indignation. The satire targets both merchant greed and how desperation erodes consumer dignity—a civilian parallel to soldiers' trenches sacrifice. The piece reflects genuine WWI-era frustration with food rationing and inflation on the home front.

# "The Deluge—Will It Spread Over Europe?" This political cartoon by Cesare (Charles) H. Pommele depicts a catastrophic flood engulfing what appears to be a city or region (labeled with letters A, C, Y), with masses of people fleeing in panic below. The composition suggests a biblical or apocalyptic disaster. The title's question—"Will it spread over Europe?"—indicates this represents some crisis threatening to expand beyond its origin. Given Judge magazine's American context, "the Deluge" likely refers to a major contemporary disaster or social upheaval the cartoonist feared might have continental consequences. Without the publication date visible, the specific event is unclear, but the imagery conveys widespread alarm about contagion or catastrophe spreading internationally.

# Analysis of Judge Magazine Page This page contains several satirical pieces reflecting post-WWI American life: **"Ever Notice It?"** by Charles Campbell Jones observes how office women appear different at various life stages—from sweet-faced Santa helpers in childhood to increasingly sinister figures when job-hunting, culminating in an intimidating "Big Un." The satire critiques how perceptions of women shift based on context and power dynamics. **The W.S.S. Advertisement** promotes War Savings Stamps, a government bond program from the World War I era, using soldiers as spokespeople. **"Horrid!"** satirizes a woman juggling three suitors (Albert, Frederick, Hugh) who discover her deception when receiving a shared Christmas gift—mocking romantic entanglement. **The remaining humor pieces** mock buttermilk pricing, a plumber's mistaken car horn for a fish vendor, and relativity of distance. These reflect everyday post-war American concerns: inflation, misunderstandings, and absurdist logic. The overall tone is light domestic satire typical of Judge magazine's approach to contemporary social behavior.

# Analysis of Judge Magazine Page This page contains three separate nostalgic/humorous pieces typical of Judge's satirical format: **"Recollections"** (top left): A memoir about childhood Christmas presents, mocking how parents restrict children's enjoyment—a hand-washing requirement before viewing an illustrated book, a homemade wheelbarrow immediately repurposed for labor. **The cartoon** (center): Shows a child and father discussing a movie. The child thinks a death scene was fake; the father cynically suggests a censor actually censored the letter the child wrote to Santa, preventing him from receiving an automobile. This satirizes both childhood naiveté and film censorship practices of the era. **"A Christmas Letter"** (right): Sentimental verse about children writing Santa, ultimately requesting only their father's presence—touching sentimentality masking the era's economic hardship. **"Found in a Bottle"** (bottom right): An adventure parody where the narrator exhaustedly retrieves a mysterious bottle from the sea, only to find it contains the cynical con-artist phrase "There's one born every minute"—mocking gullibility and the human tendency toward self-deception. The page emphasizes Christmas themes mixed with satirical commentary on American life, consumerism, and human folly.

# Analysis of Judge Magazine Page **"Conservation" (main poem/cartoon):** This satirizes Herbert Hoover's famous "Conservation" policy during WWI rationing. A fat man drowning demands rescue while claiming "conserve the fat, you know"—mocking those who preach conservation while hoarding resources themselves. The sailor's refusal to save such hypocrisy delivers the moral punch: conservation means genuine sacrifice, not selective self-interest. **Sidebar jokes:** Light social commentary on gender dynamics and modern life—a woman's vague answer about a "siren whistle" on Liberty Day, a father discovering a suitor's presumption, and observations about workplace courtship. **"A Plaint of Politeness":** Satire on excessive manners as self-defeating; the narrator's rigid adherence to propriety costs him opportunities and comfort, suggesting American culture valued authenticity over strict etiquette. The page reflects early-20th-century American anxieties about resource scarcity, gender relations, and social conduct.

# A Lover's Artifice This is the opening page of a serialized short story (not a political cartoon), illustrated by Lawrence Fellows for *Judge* magazine. The narrative concerns Captain Philip Disston, convalescencing in a Paris hospital converted to treat English and American soldiers during World War I. A nurse arrives whom he recognizes but wants to conceal their prior acquaintance. When the head nurse (Miss Roberts) approaches, he impulsively asks the first nurse to embrace him "in a loving way"—ostensibly to appear romantically involved and perhaps deflect the head nurse's attention or suspicion. The setup suggests a romantic entanglement or deception involving three characters. The story's title, "A Lover's Artifice," hints that romance and strategic maneuvering will drive the plot. This is domestic fiction typical of *Judge*'s serialized content—entertainment rather than satire.