Life — August 30, 1917 — page 21: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Life magazine cartoon satirizes **Congressional ineffectiveness and bureaucratic obstruction**. The scene depicts a chaotic legislature where various industry trusts (Food Trust, Coal Trust, Cotton Trust, etc.) wear hats labeled with their monopolies, lounging above while committees proliferate below. The satire targets the **Progressive Era's failed regulatory efforts**. Politicians propose endless investigations—committees on "Doubtful Ways and Means," whether the moon is made of green cheese—as comic absurdities that mask inaction on genuine problems. The caption "Whatever You Do—Don't Do It Now!" explicitly mocks legislative paralysis and delay tactics. The caricatured figures likely represent **industrial monopolists and their Congressional allies** who use procedural obstruction to prevent meaningful reform. The cartoon critiques how trusts escape regulation through committees and studies rather than decisive legislative action—a major Progressive-era complaint about Congressional gridlock.