Life, 1917-02-08 · page 10 of 42
Life — February 8, 1917 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page critiques public restaurants as sources of poor health. The article argues that restaurants prioritize appearance over nutrition, waste food in large-scale cooking, and force people to eat more than needed due to commercial pressures. The author proposes abolishing them entirely, sarcastically celebrating the elimination of tips, music, and indigestion. The left cartoon labeled "A Witness for the Defense" appears to show a courtroom scene, likely illustrating a legal case related to restaurant practices or food quality. The right cartoon depicts two men in conversation—one identified as "a criminal lawyer"—suggesting restaurants attract unsavory characters or litigation. The poem "Florida's Fan" by Clinton Scollard is unrelated romantic verse about a woman's fan.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LPBE: The Menace of Restaurants URRY in eating is said to be a national vice, and to be responsible for a multiplicity of digestive troubles; but should not much of the real difficulty be laid at the door of the public restaurant? The public restaurant is an old offender, and how little has been done to bring it to justice! Most people are largely fools about what they eat. The poorest class, whose health is their chief asset, usually select the foods which contain the least nourish- ment. The appearance of food, irrespective of its nutri- tive qualities, is what counts commercially. Owing to the fact that in public restaurants food has to be cooked in large quantities a large percentage of its nourishment is wasted, so that the public restaurant, bound by certain commercial laws due to great masses of people herding together in municipal centres, makes people cat more than they need of food depleted of its most valuable Properties. If public restaurants were abolished and we all had to bring our luncheons—what a boon! No hat tips! No music! No indigestion! These Three ORK is spending the people's money for public build- ings where they are not needed. Preparedness is spending the people’s money for dread- naughts which will be out of date before they are com- pleted. Patriotism is seeing the difference and insisting upon it. A WITNESS FOR THE DEFENSE ISN'T HE?” * “YES, VERY.” Florinda’s Fan 'ASHIONED of fluff and feather, And looped with lovely lace, And linked with silk together, It hides her dainty face; Just two bright eyes are peeping Above it while you scan, And wish you might be creeping Behind Florinda’s fan! They say that maids of olden Waved such a thing as lure In days that we call golden— Trouvére and troubadour! Yet fairer in snood or wimple No maid since time began Than she whose pink cheeks dimple Behind Florinda’s fan! Rocked on the seas of slumber I have had many dreams, Rapt visions without number By dawn or sunset beams, And yet the dearest this is— With naught the boon to ban, The dream I have of kisses Behind Florinda’s fan! Clinton Scollard, comicbooks.com