Life — December 19, 1918 — page 15: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This single cartoon depicts two ragged men handling a third person roughly in a street setting, while a child watches from the distance. The caption reads: "IF THE HOBENZOLLERNS HAD BEEN OBLIGED TO MAKE THEIR OWN LIVING." The satire targets the German royal Hohenzollern family (who ruled Prussia and the German Empire). The joke suggests that if they'd been forced to work for survival like ordinary people—implying they were parasitic aristocrats living off others' labor—they would resort to crime or brutish behavior. This likely reflects post-WWI American sentiment, when Germany was widely blamed for the war and its ruling class was viewed with contempt. The cartoon mocks Prussian nobility as inherently unfit for honest work.