Life, 1915-05-06 · page 11 of 56
Life — May 6, 1915 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top illustration depicts a colonial-era scene where a European guide gestures toward indigenous people and settlements below, captioned "THIS WAS EUROPE." This is satirical role-reversal: it imagines non-European peoples as tourists observing European civilization as a historical curiosity—reversing the typical colonial power dynamic of European tourists studying "primitive" societies. The bottom cartoon, titled "HOW IT ALL BEGAN," shows Adam receiving a letter of introduction, likely referencing humanity's origins in Genesis. This appears to be setup for subsequent satirical commentary. The accompanying essay discusses prohibition and rum distilling, suggesting the page combines visual satire about colonialism with commentary on contemporary American alcohol policy—a major political issue in 1920.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
as any that can be composed by the reform laws. It is a hard question, this contempo- rary rum question. It needs to be talked over a great deal. Our friend the distiller is strong for “the consti- tutional right of every individual to act for himself in matters of personal choice”. We all are strong for that, but, after all, when a distiller in the exercise of his constitutional right has made and sold rum to X Y, and he in the exercise of his constitutional right has soaked it up until he is helpless, whose constitutional duty ought it to be to support, nurse and bury him? It is because so many people have to clean up so much after whiskey that whiskey has so few friends. TOURISTS OF 1920 The Guide: THIS WAS EUROPE HOW IT ALL BEGAN “WHAT Is IT, JAMES?” “A MR. ADAM HAS JUST CALLED WITH THIS LETTER OF INTRODUCTION,” comicbooks.com