Life — February 28, 1918 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis The cartoon shows two military figures inspecting a horse, with one saying he must compliment the horse's appearance and that "his coat is in fine condition," to which the other replies "Thank ye, sir. We, sir, I used to be a piano polisher." This is **wartime satire** mocking military recruitment and resource allocation. The joke satirizes how soldiers are being pressed into service regardless of their civilian skills—a piano polisher is now caring for military horses. It's a gentle jab at the army's need for manpower during what appears to be WWI, suggesting absurd reassignments of untrained personnel to essential military tasks. The facing article on "The Bolsheviki" discusses Russian revolutionary politics critically, referencing figures like Trotsky, Lenin, and Madero, contextualizing this as anti-revolutionary American commentary from the war period.