The Changing World

This Sunday comic strip contrasts political conventions before and after 1920, when press access to proceedings shifted from closed sessions to public attendance. The four-panel layout tracks the transformation: delegates once barred reporters and relied on bars to refresh themselves during long sessions; now the press is welcomed, forcing attendees to abandon alcohol and endure abbreviated three-day gatherings on modest refreshments. The strip employs sequential narrative panels with dialogue balloons to build its satirical commentary on transparency and its unintended social consequences. The lower panels reference Roosevelt's name drawing crowds at conventions from 1904 onward—a visual gag that plays on recurring character recognition familiar to newspaper comic readers of the era.