Life — March 4, 1909 — page 17: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This 1910 satire depicts winged angels as construction workers building a towering skyscraper. The caption references "The Amalgamated Angel Labor Union of 1910 at Work." The cartoon satirizes labor unions by portraying them as heavenly or divine entities—ironically suggesting that unionized workers see themselves as celestial. The joke likely mocks either: 1. Union workers' perceived arrogance or inflated self-importance, or 2. The idea that unions were achieving "heaven-reaching" heights of power and ambition The skyscraper itself—a symbol of modern urban progress and capitalism—being constructed by unionized "angels" creates comedic tension between heavenly virtue and earthly labor disputes. This reflects early-20th-century anxieties about labor organizing's growing influence on American industry.