Life, 1918-12-26 · page 28 of 35
Life — December 26, 1918 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from Life magazine (appearing to be post-WWI, given references to "the war") satirizes social changes caused by wartime labor shortages. **"Girls on the Job"** celebrates women entering the workforce—selling railroad tickets, operating streetcars, driving cars—in unprecedented numbers during the war. The text humorously speculates that when soldiers return, they'll marry these working women, creating a new social adjustment where women combine jobs with matrimony. **"Speaking of Easy Money"** is political satire about government finances. "Hits" despairs that national revenue can't match spending. "Burs" quips darkly that Postmaster General Albert Burleson could solve this by charging demurrage (storage fees) on delayed mail—a jab at postal service incompetence. **The bottom cartoon** plays on delayed letters from soldiers, with a child saying Burleson's spanking (metaphorically, the postmaster) caused mail delays. The cartoons reflect anxieties about rapid social change and criticism of wartime government administration.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Girls on the Job IRLS everywhere now! They sell you tickets at the railroad station, and take your fare on the street cars, and weed the garden if you have one, and drive motor cars more than ever, and so on and on in numberless accus- tomed and unaccustomed employments. And in the main they do mighty well, and make you wonder what all the young men will turn to when they get back from the war, Probably they will turn to these girls of the industrial army among others, and marry a lot of them, jobs and all, and if that happens extensively it will lead to some new adjustment of the woman-with-job to matrimony, But, anyhow, the industrial girls will marry all the more because they have some- THE CHILDREN OF THE POOR WHOSE FAULT IS IT? thing to marry on, and a lot of them will have to marry veterans, because they will be the likeliest young men in sight. My word! What transmogrifications the war has brought to pass! Speaking of Easy Money— Hits (shaking his head over the financial page): My, my! I'm afraid the nation can never bring its revenue up to its outgo again. Burs (gritting his teeth over the contribution just left by the postman) : That's easily done. Just let Burleson charge demurrage on the delayed letters! “LIE comes from a good family, doesn’t he?” “But he’s been such a long time coming.” “owl MAL 1 SAT ON THE SPANKIN’ YOU GAVE ME!”