Life — June 7, 1917 — page 28: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon mocks the "Anti-Noise Crusaders"—apparently a contemporary movement to reduce urban noise pollution. The page presents absurd "solutions" through humorous illustrations: - **Sound-proof houses for English sparrows** (birds making noise) - **Rubber heels for horses** (reducing clatter) - **A man measuring noise at "19,921"** (quantifying the problem) - **Deaf and dumb truck drivers** (eliminating noise-makers) - **Choir-boy news vendors** (silent newsboys) - **Rubber-wheeled carriages** (quieter transport) The satire suggests that anti-noise campaigns are so extreme they'd require impossible or absurd measures—silencing animals, hiring disabled workers, or creating elaborate soundproofing. The cartoon ridicules both the crusaders' ambitions and the impracticality of eliminating urban noise in a busy modern city. It's a commentary on reform movements that the cartoonist considers naive or overreaching.