Life, 1914-09-24 · page 11 of 45
Life — September 24, 1914 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes debates about Japanese immigration to America and the desirability of life in Oblivion (likely a reference to a small, undesirable town). The main cartoon shows demon-like figures in what appears to be Hell or a hellish space, with signs reading "Notes for Women" and "What is Home Without Mother?" The accompanying text (attributed to Hashimura Todo) contains a Japanese character's reflections on Oblivion, wondering if even Theodore Roosevelt would visit such a place. The commentary mocks both the town's undesirability and contemporary anxieties about Japanese settlement in America. The photograph below depicts a rural railway shack, illustrating the kind of isolated, undesirable living conditions being referenced in the satire about Japanese immigrants' experiences and choices regarding where to settle.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
are abused by N. Y, Sun and everything possible done to make them feel com- fortable and at home. Yet they seldom- ly stay long in Great City, because they get that commutation feeling that they better be back in Oblivion comfortably setting out poppies in flower bed.” “It must be saddish place to live,” Nogi sub, looking like Romeo. “Less so,” I eliminate. “ Oblivion are like other forms of drunkenness. When you are there you never know it.” Nogi look to me very longfully with shyness in his forehead before his speech. “Togo,” he say it after time, “do you think something shocking?” “What could it?” I seeth. “Will Hon. Roosevelt ever arrive to Oblivion?" he whasper. "Not worry!” say me. “If he got there that town would become electric lighted and the air full of wireless cablegrams.” Hoping you are the same Yours truly Hasuimura Toco. (Per Wallace Irwin.) POOR DEVIL! The Down-and-Out: AN’ TO THID THAT'S MY MOTHER'S WASH- WoMAN’s son! comichooks.