Life, 1913-06-12 · page 13 of 44
Life — June 12, 1913 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes American anxieties about unexplained misfortunes blamed on "hoodoo" (bad luck or curse). The poem catalogs contemporary problems—tariffs, Chinese loans, baseball jinxes, naval scandals, corporate corruption—attributing them to vague supernatural forces rather than actual policy failures. The cartoon depicts "Father Knickerbocker" (personification of New York) surrounded by bloated figures labeled with social ills, growing so large they'll soon crowd each other out. The satire mocks how Americans blamed "hoodoo" for problems actually caused by government incompetence, economic policy, and institutional failure. Rather than address real causes, the culture scapegoated invisible supernatural forces—a critique of public irresponsibility and magical thinking replacing serious analysis.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- Who's AS the savage Africanders Honk around like sable ganders Seeking luck-destroying witches with a voodoo; So the enterprise eternal Of this truth-sufficing journal Should be finding public issues that are Hoodoo. Neighbors, would it raise your hair if We should start in with the Tariff And next indicate the government of Turkey, Hiking thence with progress moaning To the job of Chinese loaning With a six-power hex upon it lank and murky? See the Hoodoo on the siding Where Culebra’s cuts go sliding! See the Hoodoo down in Mexico combusto! Where Huerta’s rebel-herder Plies the gentle art of murder Crying, “ Next!” with all a barber's genial gusto. There's a jinx with fiendish reason Waiting for the baseball season When some pennant-hopeful team is sure to fumble; And a bird of evil omen Hoodoo O'er our Naval Programme's gloamin’ Since “ Economy” through Congress halls doth rumble. All this Cubist color-streaking Is a Hoodoo foul and recking Sent to blight the world with art-decomposition. Let us hope that we may strangle This same Deified Triangle "Long with some Vienna operas (by permission). The N’York police graft Hoodoo I detest as much as you do; The Terpsichorean Hoodoo sets me dotting— Where, ye heavens, can a man go That they do not twist the Tango Or profane our English tea with turkey trotting? There's a blight on aviation, There's a curse on Arbitration, There's a Corporation Pest that grows more porky; There's a Hoodoo—shades abysmal, Let us drop this topic dismal Or ‘twill drive us all to drink or Maxim Gorky! Wallace Irwin, Father Knickerbocker: 1¥ THAT YOUNGSTER KEEPS ON GROWING THERE WILL SOON BE NO ROOM FOR ANY OF THE OTHERS comicbooks.com