Life, 1916-12-21 · page 24 of 36
Life — December 21, 1916 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Main Cartoon** depicts a portly man labeled "Bill" (likely representing a politician or bill in Congress) holding a globe, with the caption "WHERE'S THAT D—D CONSUMER?" This satirizes concerns about where consumers or ordinary people fit into economic policy—suggesting they're being overlooked or exploited. **"Right and Proper"** is a brief philosophical poem about the tension between what's morally right versus socially acceptable. **"Why the Churches Are Empty"** humorously lists what competes with churchgoing: sermons, choirs, collections, newspapers, automobiles, golf, and beds—implying modern distractions have displaced religious observance. **"The New Order"** is sharp political satire. It imagines a dystopian future where the government forcibly feeds poor people (presented as "help"), yet the poor ironically resist, defending their "dignity of poverty" rather than accept government intervention. The satire targets both paternalistic government policies and the absurdity of the poor defending a system that starves them—while wealthy "food speculators" enjoy limousines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Right and Proper Wl Dagan what is proper and what is right There's rather more than the turn of ‘a copper; For some proper things are not right— quite— While some right things are far from Proper. Why the Churches Are Empty GEEMONS. Choi Hard Collections. Sunday papers, Automobiles. Golf. Beds. Dauntless Lowells LECTION prophets may well envy the late Percival Lowell, the as- tronomer, who located all his surmises in Mars, and, though often disputed, was never called down. There may or may not be folks in Mars, but, thanks to Dr. Lowell, inhabitants will be claimed for that planet until the official count. Dr. Lowell came of a family that is not abashed by novelty. His sister Amy is the famous patron and prac- titioner of vers libre, and his brother Lawrence, since he succeeded Presi- dent Eliot, has built the Freshman dor- mitories in Harvard College, and watched the college library grow Widener and more vast than ever col- lege library was before. The New Order (In the Near Future) HE forcible feeding law, as applied to all poor people, having gone into effect, the government proceeded to ad- minister it. All those who have hitherto not been able to earn enough to keep themselves. from starving to death were ordered to be forcibly fed. The inhat ts of the slums all arose at an early hour, while the in- spectors prepared to make their rounds. A company of United States infantry was on hand to preserve order, Mrs. Irene Murphy, who family of eight children, said: “We have been slowly starving to death for some time, and we strongly object to any interference on the part of the governmeat. The food specu- lators are certainly entitled to their limousines.” A riot ensued, said: “Why not forcibly feed some of the millionaires? They need good food more than we do.” Ata late hour last night it looked as though nobody wanted to be forcibly fed. “The fact that we are all hungry,” said a revolutionist, “ doesn’t take away from the principle of the thing. All we ask is to enjoy the dignity of pov- erty, as we always have done.” had a One of the leaders comicbooks.com