Life, 1918-07-18 · page 23 of 36
Life — July 18, 1918 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Cartoon ("A Reckless and Shortsighted Lady"):** Washington, D.C. is personified as a greedy woman exploiting wartime prosperity (likely WWI era, based on "war-brought traveller"). The satire criticizes how the city's hotels and landlords are gouging visitors with inflated prices—charging $2.50 instead of pre-war rates, renting houses for $200/month instead of $50. The cartoon warns that once the war ends and flush tourists disappear, Washington's reputation for avarice will linger, driving away the respectable honeymoon trade that once sustained it. **Secondary Feature ("The Biggest Fools"):** A humorous list mocking human folly: romantic rivals, relatives giving bad financial advice, starstruck men misinterpreting actresses' stage smiles, and self-awareness concluding with "Yourself." The page satirizes wartime profiteering and short-sighted greed while offering lighthearted observations on everyday foolishness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THAT SHADOW OF HEREDITY A Reckless and Shortsighted Lady 'ASHINGTON, D. C., that former- ly respectable and sleepy old lady, patron nt of honeymooners and ex- cursionists for lo! these many years, capers heavily and offensively on the banks of the Potomac with her reticule stuffed with yellowbacks, and with a roll large enough to choke a hippopota- mus thrust deep into each white cotton stocking. Hotels that closed their din- ing-rooms cach summer in the olden days through lack of patronage, and gladly permitted the languid guest to occupy the bridal suite for $2.30 in Mexican money, are holding up the war-brought traveller now that the golden days have come. Houses that rented for fifty dollars a month be- fore the war cannot be had to-day for less than two hundred dollars. Some day the war will end; but mean- while the tale of Washington's avarice will have gone abroad in the land. Then the reticule will flatten, and the white cotton stockings will be devoid of sudden bulges; for the honeymoon- ers and the excursionists are frugal folk, and possess memories which put that of the elephant to shame. If the old lady doesn’t get religion soon she'll lose her reputation entirely. The Biggest Fools You Have Known OUR rival in love. Your wife's first husband. Your uncle who tries to advise you about the stock market. Your other uncle who refuses to take your advice about the stock mar- ket. The man who returns the smile of the actress on the stage. The actress who refuses to return your smile. Yourself, Roti ny | ; ALAls ANNon ENSoR ASUALTY C-SICKNESS comicbooks.com