Life — December 27, 1917 — page 13: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical page depicts post-World War I social changes and anxieties. The top illustration shows "His Master's Voice" gramophone broadcasting "Peace! Peace!" — referencing the recent armistice. The central cartoon titled "A Popular Eviction" shows a rotund figure being ejected from a city, likely representing an unpopular political or military leader being removed from power after the war's end. Surrounding vignettes satirize wartime and post-war developments: women becoming streetcar conductors (addressing labor shortages), Russians potentially following "other professions" (likely referencing Bolshevism), coal rationing by "doctor's prescription" (wartime scarcity), and Christmas presents being scarce. The cartoons collectively mock domestic disruptions caused by war, social upheaval, and the transition to peacetime conditions in 1918 America.