Life, 1917-03-01 · page 32 of 42
Life — March 1, 1917 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon depicts a boat labeled "THE H.P.O." (likely "H.P. Lovecraft" or another literary reference, though unclear) in turbulent waters. Two figures navigate while one says they need a compass, suggesting they're lost amid chaos. The accompanying articles use **satirical exaggeration** to critique 1920s social attitudes: 1. **"Women as City Managers?"** argues women *should* manage cities because municipal administration is "only a larger kind of housekeeping"—a patronizing argument sarcastically presented as progressive. The logic equates public administration to domestic chores (street cleaning = floor polishing). 2. **"The Triumph of Prohibition"** mocks the Prohibition movement by imagining it extended to food, resulting in mass starvation—satirizing the movement's perceived zealotry and unintended consequences. 3. **"Who Am I?"** riddles that the answer is a doctor's bill—critiquing medical expenses arriving late and unexpectedly. The cartoon's connection to these pieces remains **unclear**, though it may relate to navigating uncertainty in contemporary life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
36 “LIFE: Sera 4i/» “EXCUSE ME, MARIA, BUT I REALLY THINK WE SHOULD HAVE A COMPASS!” ‘Women as City Managers? TH Position of city manager is one in which women should be particularly interested. A dozen large cities and many smaller ones in the United States now testify to the value of this comparatively recent institution. The management of a city is only a larger kind of housekeeping, and the capacities for which women have trained them- selves for generations are those most largely needed. A city is not run for financial profit like a business, and its successful mana; ent does not depend so much upon originality and initiative as it does upon incorruptibility and skill in details. Both of these qualities women pos- sess. Keeping the streets smooth and clean is only a more diversified form of dusting and floor polishing. A water system is only a larger plumbing. A budget is only a domestic allowance. “I give my wife so much a week,” says the married man, “and she runs the house.” “I give my manager so much a year,” says the city, “and he sees that I get my money’s worth.” If one woman would demonstrate her value as a city manager, her example would undoubtedly be multiplied many times. Why doesn’t some woman do this? Is it because women cannot do these things? The Triumph of Prohibition ATTIER Prohibition had come into power over the whole country, a new problem presented itself. The leaders of the movement discovered that many cases of poverty and death were traceable to over-eating. Forth- with a law was passed forbidding the one-time free citizens of America from indulging in any food whatsoever. It is an interesting fact that no apostle of total absti- nence lost his life in the universal self-starvation that en- sued. Who Am I? I AM the most flexible thing in the world. I am always a little less than you can pay, but a little more than you can afford. I come when you least expect me, and on tasteful stationery that looks like a letter from a friend. I come so long after the crisis to which I refer that you have forgotten all about it. I am the doctor's bill. “TOES the new play afford the leading lady adequate opportunity to display her talents?” “Yes, indeed; she wears a bathing suit in the second act and a dinner gown in the third.” comicbooks.com