Life — July 18, 1912 — page 19: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical comic strip depicts children engaged in various domestic activities and play—cooking, cleaning, sewing, playing with toys, and other household tasks. The title "Infant Industries" is a pun playing on the economic term "infant industries," which refers to new, developing sectors needing government protection. The satire suggests that children's domestic work and play *are* industries themselves—treating childhood activities as labor. This likely critiques either: (1) child labor practices of the era, or (2) the romanticization of children's household contributions as productive "work." The humor comes from the absurdist application of industrial terminology to innocent childhood activities, inviting readers to reconsider whether we're appropriately valuing or exploiting children's domestic roles.