Life, 1919-04-17 · page 8 of 46
Life — April 17, 1919 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three unrelated items: a political cartoon titled "Roads of Destiny" showing a man at a crossroads; a classified ads section with wartime references (mentioning war songs and peace songs, with a federal law prohibition on composing new peace songs); and an office scene captioned "That First Impulse When Someone Approaches With a Letter of Introduction." The main article, "That Salary Check," satirizes post-WWI economic struggles. It describes earning $100/month a decade prior, now earning $300/month but barely surviving—paying $50 for rent, $25 for food, and $16.84 in taxes, leaving almost nothing. The piece mocks middle-class financial precarity and the gap between nominal wage increases and actual purchasing power, suggesting inflation and taxation made workers poorer despite higher nominal salaries.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ROADS OF DESTINY Classified Ads OR SALE—Twenty or more war songs rendered of no use to the present owner by the signing of the armis- tice. N-7612. Lire Wastep—A federal law making it a felony to compose, publish, play or sing any new peace song. X-7613, Livy “SORKY, MADAM, HUT YOUR ACCOUNT IS ALREADY OVEK= pRAwN !" “WELL, WHAT OF IT, YOUNG MAN? HAVEN'T EA RIGHT TC DO WHAT LIKE WITEE MY OWN ACCOUNT?” That Salary Check EN years it was $100 a month. We paid $30 of for fooml, $13 for rent, $7.30 for a cook, and had t rest to live on. We wore good cle ta bit ahe and felt ourselves prosperous citizens and leading membe of the community Now it is $300. We pay $100 of it for food, $50 for re 3 for ac S1OH8y in taxes, and try amount of with what is left. We ge wear old ¢ ud carry a haunted look in our THAT FIRST IMPULSE WHEN SOMFONE APPROACHES WITH we walk to our office, dc the new cars of day-laborer: A LETTER OF INTKODUCTION and thinking of hill-collectors.