Life, 1916-11-23 · page 12 of 40
Life — November 23, 1916 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical essays and one illustration titled "Faithful Drawing of a Colored Gentleman Walking Down an Unlighted Street." The cartoon depicts a Black man walking at night, carrying what appears to be a large white object (possibly a bundle or package). The illustration's caption and title suggest satirical commentary on racial stereotypes—likely mocking contemporary assumptions or prejudices about Black men in urban settings after dark. The surrounding text discusses post-election behavior and political corruption, suggesting the cartoon may relate to broader social commentary about racial and class dynamics in early 20th-century America, though the specific satirical point remains somewhat unclear without additional context about when this was published and what contemporary events it references.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LP * After Election IF we were logical at all we would have firing squads report after clec- tion to shoot the condemned. We spend months and millions to demon- strate that our political leaders for the most part are rascals, porch-climbers, liars, slanderers, cowards, traitors and misdemeanants in other particulars, but after election we do nothing about it. We do not even hang the beaten candidate for President, which cer- tainly we might do in the interest of economy, to be saved from trouble and expense about him in the future. Nothing comes of all our vast exer- tions except another President, who will only last four years, and will have to practice a good deal of that time against the inevitable recurrence of this trouble. OPULAR government on our plan is an awful thing, but maybe human life is of that nature that it requires a periodical recurrence of awful things to keep it on the level that suits our Creator. Human life is the very most curious, involved and perplexing proposition ever. Its stomach is always on the point of falling out with its soul, and its apparatus for continuance is con- stantly butting into its morals, If we get too rich we rot or quarrel, and if we don’t get rich enough we stand in bread lines. Europe had ac- cumulated so much wealth that there seemed to be a prospect of a long pic- nic for everybody, and universal en- joyment. Along comes the big war and eats up wealth at the rate of forty or fifty billion dollars a year, and kills and maims myriads of people, and all because Europe, in contriving its great pudding of easy happiness, forgot to put in some ingredient that was indis- pensable, The war is a great deal worse than our elections. If we have got to have sorrows and losses in order to keep us healthy we might as well stick to those we know. A presidential election every four years is an appalling nuisance. Ingenious persons are always trying to abate it; proposing one term only, and six years to that, and like expedients. But if our presidential election is a kind of inoculation to prevent our hav- ing some much worse disease like war, by all means let us stick to it and keep it just as it is. For though it is tire- some, troublesome and rather nasty, so far it has never been fatal. FTER all there are advantages for’ candidates in the mud-bath treat- ment of the campaign. It is a good thing to have every objection filed, every epithet sped, every accusation hurled, and all the bad eggs and dead cats promulgated towards the plat- form. All that amounts to a house- cleaning. By election day there are no more missiles left in the bins, and the successful candidate can put on a clean suit and go unassailed about his business. He has stood trial for all his crimes up to election day, and no- body will bother him much until he has time to commit some new ones. The attitude even of most of his late opponents towards him is one of toler- ation, and they settle back patiently to see if he will wreck the country suf- ficiently in eighteen months to lose the congressional elections. It is a funny way to provide govern- ment, but, after all, it’s better to live beside a geyser that spouts mud mod- erately at regular intervals than to cuddle up to a Pelee or Vesuvius that keeps green and lovely till it gets your confidence and then lifts off its entire lid and drops it on you boiling hot. E,S.M. Incredible All the extraordinary men I have ever known were chiefly extraor- dinary in their own estimation. —President Wilson, HERE'S Colonel House. He knows him, and he is certified to be ex- traordinary. Is it possible that Colonel House’s long suit is self-appreciation? Hence the Misspelling “(CAN you fix up half a dozen win- dow cards for me?” asks the merchant “Nothing doing in the window cards any more,” replies the ex-sign-writer. “I'm making sub-titles for the mov now.” CAGonoanD FAITHFUL DRAWING OF A COLORED GENTLENAN = WALKING DOWN AN UNLIGHTED STREET. Never Again RESOLVED AFTER ELECTION N ER again to bet on election; but if I do bet, to begin early, and collect short ends, Never again to speak unkindly of ither candidate ; but if I do, to be im- partial and knock both. Never again to read the papers with- in three weeks of election; but if I do, to read them all and do nothing else. Never again to think that anybody is too good to be President, or not good enough. icbooks.com /