Life — January 26, 1911 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page discusses the Rochester Board of Education's suppression of college fraternities and sororities, citing concerns about "exclusive and undemocratic class distinctions." **The cartoons satirize this:** 1. **"The Extra Lady"** (top right): A caricatured woman in fashionable dress, captioned that she "cannot act or dance or sing, / But she can back like anything!" — mocking sorority women as decorative but useless. 2. **"Percy Fly"** (bottom): A fly eating soup "from the side of the spoon" — humorously suggesting improper etiquette, likely analogizing fraternity members to those lacking social refinement. The text argues this propensity for social organization is universal and natural, comparing American fraternities to comparable European organizations. It questions whether suppression serves democracy or merely postpones inevitable reorganization.