Life, 1912-10-10 · page 21 of 48
Life — October 10, 1912 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon depicts a winged, halo'd figure (representing an angel or idealist) gazing at his dog—captioned as "The Greatest Scoundrel Unhung." This visual paradox illustrates the poem's central irony. Poet Gordon Carruth satirizes 1950s American political and social movements. He mocks diverse groups—Anarchists, Suffragettes, Socialists, Labor unions, and wealthy individuals—for pursuing competing ideological "causes" while claiming to work toward brotherhood and social improvement. His critique: these factions so obsessively promote their conflicting agendas through "noisy, invidious strife" that they actually prevent genuine human connection and harmony. The angel-looking-at-a-scoundrel image reinforces the paradox: even idealistic-seeming efforts may be self-serving or counterproductive. Carruth argues that harmonious progress requires abandoning propagandistic arguments in favor of "logic alone"—a somewhat naive Cold War-era plea for rational consensus over ideological passion.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1957 A Ballad of the Times KNOW I’m as willing as others To welcome the world to my arms, But I grieve that the gaining of brothers Is wrought by the beat of alarms And this paradoxical view in The matter is all T can take We're working society’s ruin For brotherhood’s sake. For men do not mingle as erstwhile In joy of the moment at hand, But meet that the present be cursed while A glorious future is planned. So each of ment" That scems to him clearly the best To further our social improvement In spite of the rest. s clings 10 a “move And if we are greeting our neighbor, We're ready to draw and to ply Our figures on finance and labor To parry a pertinent “ Why?” Or if we are calling we never Permit conversational pause Without an obtrusive endeavor To drag in our “ Cause.” O Anarchist dealing in powder; O Suffragette raising a din; © Socialist raising a louder Condemning Monopoly’s O Labor, whose multitudes mingle In Unions with brotherhood pacts ; © Gentleman hopelessly single In thought and in tax; Pray tell, do you think propaganda By noisy, invidious strife, Can make us believe you com- mand a fi Receipt for millennial life Oh, stop this obstreperous nuisance, { And let us win over the earth By putting in practise our true sense N Of harmony’s worth And when all the tumult is ended And we're glad to co-operate here To work out a system intended To bring the Utopian year ;— We'll find, when it’s logic alone that's At work, ‘twill be easy to bring. In fact, I've a scheme of my own THE GREATEST SCOUNDREL UNHUNG that's AS HE LOOKS TO HIS DOG Precisely the thing. Gorton Carruth. comicbooks.com