Life, 1918-04-04 · page 8 of 40
Life — April 4, 1918 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains political satire about the **Congressional Record**—the official printed transcript of congressional proceedings. The main article argues against abolishing it, despite its massive length (over 300,000 pages in 43 years). The author criticizes Congress members who alter their speeches after delivery before publication, calling this deceptive. The cartoon at top satirizes a wrecked car, with one figure asking "What kind of car is it?" and another responding "It must be one of them used cars"—likely mocking congressmen who extensively revise their speeches, making them "used" or secondhand versions of what was actually spoken. The accompanying comic illustrations are humorous vignettes unrelated to the main article.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“WHAT KIND OF A CAR IS IT?” “IT MUST BE ONE O° THES USED CARS.” No! No! OMEBODY in Congress has been actually looking into the Congressional Record (which by many experts is considered the only humorous paper in the country), and has made some discoveries about it. One is that in the last forty-three years three hundred and sixty thousand pages of the Record have been printed. Another is that the “leave to print” rule gives every con- gressman the right to have printed in the Record not only long speeches that he has never delivered, but anything else he has a mind to. Still another is that congressmen, even when they actually deliver their speeches, may go over the proof afterwards and alter it to suit themselves; so their specches may be quite different as printed from what they were when delivered—if they were delivered. Mr. Claude Kitchin did this not long ago, much to his own ad- vantage. A movement is now on foot to abolish the Record, on the ground that it is never read by those who might benefit by it, and if it were read it would give an utterly false idea of what goes on; also because, broadly, it is a non-essential. But if we are going to abolish congressional non-essen- tials, where shall we stop? We shall have to abolish the > . pernicious franking privilege, cut out about nine-tenths of all the bills presented, do away with most of the com- mittees, chop all the talk in two, and finally abolish con- gressmen themselves. Getting Together ANITOR: We cannot take more than one child to a family, madam. : But I have two.” “Well, there’s a bachelor in the ni Maybe he will relieve you of one.” xt apartment to yours. SASE me: A REGULAR NIGHT OWL, THINKS NOTHING OF DANC- ING TILL FIVE A.M.” “WOW DOES HE MANAGE ABOUT s 2 “on! He's IN THE ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT.” “LOOK WHO I FOUND IN DE ASH-RARREL! SOME LADY THROWED HIM AWAY RECAUSE HE CAN'T TALK NOTHI RUT GERMAN!"