Life, 1911-04-06 · page 24 of 76
Life — April 6, 1911 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes government inefficiency and incompetence through two separate pieces. **"Please Pass the Government"** criticizes the federal government as parasitic and idle—worse than the wealthy it taxes. The essay argues government collects from both rich and poor yet accomplishes nothing: it neither enforces existing laws nor passes necessary ones. Instead, it files matters away or kills them in committee. The Easter parade cartoon above shows well-dressed citizens—suggesting society's superficial happiness masks governmental dysfunction. **"The Human Cook Book"** uses grotesque recipe format to mock authority figures. "The Actor" receives theatrical embellishment; "The Policeman" recipe calls for "boiling temper," "cracked nuts," "long beats and slugs" (beatings), and "mangled citizens"—sardonically claiming the process for making police is identical to making "thugs," implying police brutality and corruption are systemic. Both pieces exemplify *Life* magazine's Progressive-era skepticism toward institutions and power structures.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SEE THE HAPPY EXPRESSIONS UPON THE FACES OF THE EASTER PARADERS! Please Pass the Government OW that Mr. Frederick Townsend Martin has written his excellent analysis of “The Passing of the Idle Rich,” let someone fellow it up and top it off by writing a series on “The Pas ing of the Idle Government,” or, if that be too big a step, let us say, “The Pass ing of the Idle Senate.” THE ACTOR To one slice of ham add assortment of roles, Steep the head in mash notes till it swells. Garnish with onions, tomatoes and beets, Or with eggs—from afar—in the shells. The idle Government is at least one degree worse than the idle rich. While the rich live on the poor, the Govern- ment lives on both the poor and the rich. It toils not, neither does it spin, yet Solomon, etc. See Baedeker’s Guide to Washington. See also appro- priation bills, ‘The Government will neither execute the laws we have nor pass others which The Human Cook Book ad are worth executing. The poor lays its burden on the rich, the rich adds its burden to that of the poor and lays the whole thing on the Government and the Government either lays it in the ar- chives or kills it in committee. And it came to pass in the twentieth century that the people were sore dis- tressed. They went to the Government and asked for relief and it gave them an appropriation, Ellis O. Jones. What! What! We read in the paper that “a remarkable life-size statue of Bacchus has been presented to the University of Pennsylvania by Mrs. Joseph Drexel of Philadelphia.” ILL the Women's Christian Tem- perance Union please take no- lice! Is an cffigy of this heathen per- son, deceased long ago and deservedly as a consequence of his habits, a suit- able embellishment for a college of young men? Well, we guess not! Where are those Pennsylvanians who were lately agitating themselves about suitable apparel for Barnard’s Adam and Eve at Harrisburg? Here is a statuary scandal of real consequence for them to wrestle with, THE POLICEMAN To a quart of boiling temper add a pint of Irish stew, Together with cracked nuts, long beats and slugs; Serve hot with mangled citizens who ask the time of day— The receipt is much the same for making thugs. comicbooks.com