Life — July 3, 1913 — page 21: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical page presents six cartoon vignettes mocking early 1900s American news and social controversies: **Top left:** Philadelphia police equipped with electric gloves—likely referencing executions or new law-enforcement technology. **Top right:** Carnegie's anniversary visit—appears to reference industrialist Andrew Carnegie, satirizing wealthy philanthropists. **Center:** "You Had Me Scared, John, But Come Again"—unclear reference, possibly political. **Lower left:** "Lunch Hour at the State Department"—bureaucratic satire. **Center-bottom:** "Queen Mary Forbids Poker at Windsor Castle"—mocking British royal propriety. **Bottom:** "Police Censor Split Skirts in Indianapolis"—satirizing moral policing of women's fashion, specifically the then-scandalous hemlines appearing on skirts. The cartoons collectively mock authority figures, moral panic over social change, and hypocritical governance typical of Life's satirical approach.