Life, 1919-02-13 · page 39 of 42
Life — February 13, 1919 — page 39: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct elements: **Left side:** A satirical "efficiency test" titled "From Uncle Sam" that mocks American self-improvement culture and middle-class anxiety. It poses deliberately absurd or uncomfortable questions—about self-hatred, President Wilson's European trip, bill collectors, spousal support, servants, and moral weakness—designed to make readers feel inadequate. The satire targets the era's obsession with "efficiency" and self-examination. **Right side:** A Velvet tobacco advertisement claiming superiority through natural aging in wooden hogsheads for two years. It appeals to sophistication ("youthful charm and mellow old age") and invites consumer testing. The juxtaposition is ironic: Life's satirical content mocking inefficiency and moral questioning sits beside an advertisement for an expensive product promising quality through time-honored methods. This reflects 1920s advertising's appropriation of authenticity claims, while Life simultaneously critiques consumer culture's anxieties.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
FROM UNCLE SAM Our Own Private Efficiency Test (dre you doing what you can for humanity? Consider yourself carefully in the light of these qu ns. Your whole future may be changed by fac- ing them frankly.) D° you hate yourself? If not, why not? Can you tell positively and directly why President Wilson went to Europe? When a bill collector calls, are you able to look him in the eye? If you are supported by your wife, do you ever wake up early and go through the pockets of her uniform for small change? If you have a ffeur, have you ever admitted publicly that he was more incompetent than the chauffeur of a friend? Have you ever regretted that your responsibilities and your stomach made it inexpedient for you to become a drunkard? If you were introduced to a system of exercise that you believed would in- crease your working acity twenty per cent, would you have the moral ice it? to refuse renced hy: an n prape » tell you a \\ hume ste have hear ny would you fet roveed to the bitter end, and: then Tf you get ninety per cent. of ight, you lose ) SMOKING TOBACCO ” Thar’s two things can’t be imitated— youthful charm and mellow old age. f p VELVET wins because it’s natural. VELVET is mellow, cool and smooth, because it is naturally aged for two years in wooden hogsheads. This long ageing makes VELVET as good as pipe tobacco can be made. It is expensive to us, but it is the right way. Don’t take our word for it—prove it out in your pipe. Liggett «Myers ebaceo fe Ee He to Velvet Jor, 4241 Foten 4 hie 1919 Almanae rT Seeoseeesnee SeGeGceeeeenanee [eeeeenen ‘comicbooks.com a a ® Sees ~ ' Seescgeoee