Life, 1917-04-26 · page 18 of 84
Life — April 26, 1917 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical commentary on post-WWI labor and class politics: **Main cartoon ("An Impression of Your Friend When He Is Talking to His Best Girl"):** A donkey—symbol of stubbornness or foolishness—depicts a man behaving absurdly while courting. It satirizes male behavior in romantic contexts. **"Privileged Classes" article:** The satire targets hypocrisy in American labor politics. The piece notes that Russian revolutionaries denounced both Czarist rule AND "government by bankers," rejecting privileged-class power entirely. Yet American labor organizations (Federation of Labor, Railroad Brotherhoods) simultaneously demand government recognition of *their* power as a "privileged class." The author mocks this contradiction: Americans applaud Russian refusal to swap one elite for another, yet advocate doing exactly that themselves. **Context:** This reflects 1920s anxiety about labor organizing, class conflict, and whether American unions represented workers or were becoming another self-interested power structure. The opening poem about ancient Rome appears decorative/classical, establishing learned tone for the satirical commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Ab Urbe Condita ELD ancient Rome, As students know, The polished dome Of Cicero. Horatius Flac- Cus’s bright map Was bric-a-brac, Too, at the Cap. The wrinkled quirk Of ar’s bean at the Cire Quite often seen. Of marble piles Rome had enough, But other styles Made her the stuff. Maurice Morris. “A SPLENDID speaker, yes. But as a thinker, is he sound?” “Why, he's all sound.” “Privileged Classes” Have you noticed that the Russian revolutionists, who have taken over the Russian Empire for the Rus- RANK "WALSH'S: * Committee on Industrial Rela- sian people, have denounced “government by bank- tions” made some stir when it was a creature of the ers” in the same breath in which they denounced government, with powers and money derived from Wash- government by Czar and bureaucrats? ington. When its time expired it was loath to die, and a This is of tremendous importance. The Russian body operating under its old name still sends out docu- people are not willingly going to substitute one privi- ments from New York. Two of them came in the mail on leged class for another. April 6th. One begin: . But the companion circular put out with emphasis the announcement of the American Federation of Labor and the Railroad Brotherhoods that— whether planning for peace or war, the government must recognize the organized labor movement as the agency through which it must co-operate with wage- earners. Evidently these circulars ought to have been kept farther apart. It makes one laugh to see applauded on one page Russian unwillingness to substitute one privileged class for another, and on the next to find so bald a claim for power for one of the strongest privileged classes in the country. THE AWAKENING A Hint to Inventors HERE is a large fortune and unlimited luxury for the balance of his life for some inventor who will produce an infallible insult-anesthetic. This world is filled with souls who are so extremely sensitive to insults that they are miserable all the time. If these could be provided and fortified with some balm or vaccine or serum or other insulticide, so that they could mingle even with the most plain-spoken without experiencing the keen pangs of real or imaginary insult, there would be a great boom in the AN IMPRESSION OF YOUR FRIEND WHEN HE IS TALKING TO happiness market HIS BEST GIRL A word to. the inventive is sufficient. comicbooks.com