Life, 1919-03-20 · page 16 of 44
Life — March 20, 1919 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes American morality enforcement during Prohibition (the 1919-1933 ban on alcohol). The main cartoon shows a man arrested for singing "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes"—a centuries-old song—because authorities interpret any reference to drinking as violating the Nineteenth Amendment's alcohol prohibition. The satire mocks the absurdity of Prohibition enforcement: authorities arrest a singer for an innocent folk song, hold him without bail, and threaten to prosecute others involved. The caption "The Result of Average Man's Effort to Understand Socialism" suggests the overreach results from confused, heavy-handed government control. Secondary items ridicule related moral panics: a town "protecting" its morality by attacking a stranger, and a veteran cautioning against vice. The overall message: Prohibition creates ridiculous, tyrannical enforcement while failing to address actual crime ("swamped by a crime wave").
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
\ THE RESULT OF ME “O’er the Land of the Free” (Waifs from the res wing the and Trent the Constitution States.) (COHARE N. J il Tasting until ~Niter a patient late the night. the Commissioner of Welfare last ¢ known loc into Public ening arrested the well maritone, Ludwig Kelly It appears that the singer was er ning friends dur and finally acceded to their continued re quests to sing “ Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes.” It is held hy the Com- missioner that this is in violation of the choral society Yon 26 fons I AVERAGEMAN’S EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND SOCIALISM Nineteenth Amendment to the Consti- tution of the United States, forbidding y public reference to the drinking Mr. Kelly wa: five thousand dollars bail for appear- evil held under twenty- court wN, Ne. of the local high se Lin The members of the y expelled yesterday atened with criminal prosecu “ Brown October iditorium Public Morals them, individually and collectively, with i Act Forhi Advertising of Spirituous Li¢ missioner a violation the threatens to include as co-defen two dissolute known as Harry B De oven, who, he alleges, are responsible Kasterners, Smith and Reginald “THE SIVINTEENTH 1V Marcu! MOST ANYTHIN’ CAN HAPPEN ON A 1 LIKE for this of Nebraska Wisoxa Lake, Wis was moral community last stranger who appeared on Mi thrown THIS—MUT Ia into AFRAID IT WON” yanton attack on the moral —Conster this peaceful eveni in Street humming a tune that was identified the Protector of the Town Conscience ittke Brown Jug, How 1 nee.” The stranger, who refused divulge his name, is in the city awaiting examination, being hi out bail TER winning a Tt is helieved that he came from New York world war would be the irony of fate swamped by a crime wave. AN OBJECT LESSON Veteran of ‘6t: STUFF, MY RUINED ME, BOY, FORGET THIS AND GO TO WORK Comicbooks.com