Life, 1916-11-30 · page 7 of 42
Life — November 30, 1916 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top photograph:** Shows Mrs. Meefa Jewells displaying "the most expensive diamond necklace in the world." The image captures well-dressed early 20th-century figures in formal attire, likely illustrating wealth and social status. **Main article: "Compulsory Domestic Arbitration"** This satirizes proposed legislation requiring husbands and wives to submit marital disputes to arbitration rather than separate. The author argues this would increase household efficiency by 50% if enforced. The piece mocks the absurdity of legally mandating spouses remain together during disagreements—suggesting wives couldn't simply leave if husbands were unsatisfactory, and husbands couldn't escape "the culinary helm." **Bottom cartoon:** A doctor tells a patient his throat problem isn't serious; the patient's "swallowing capacity is usually above normal anyway"—a crude joke about something unspecified.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
GREAT AMERICANS MRS, MEEFA JEWELLS, WHO HAS JUST PURCHASED THR MOST EXPENSIVE DIAMOND NECKLACE IN THE WORLD Compulsory’ Domestic Arbitration IF we are going to take up with the idea of compulsory arbitration, the first place to apply it is in domestic matters. Household efficiency could be in- creased fifty per cent. easily if there were some law which required hus- bands and wives to remain in statu quo while their differences were being ad- justed. If we had compulsory domestic ar- bitration, a wife could not suddenly pack up her things and flounce off to her mother’s just because her husband did or said something that was not satisfactory, She would have to stay on the job, with her hand on the culi- nary helm. A husband, on the other FLEDGLINGS hand, couldn't desert his post simply because he thought his wife was ex- travagant. He would have to sit tight until the arbitration board could dis- cover just what constituted extrava- gance in the wife of a husband of his income. Undoubtedly the only truly preserved home is the compulsory arbitrated home. “YOU MUST GIVE ME SOMETHING FOR MY THROAT, DOCTOR. I CAN'T SWALLOW.” WON'T DO YOU ANY HARM. YOUR SWALLOWING CAPACITY IS USUALLY ABOVE NORMAL, ANYWAY,”