Life, 1919-04-24 · page 21 of 46
Life — April 24, 1919 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon**: This satirizes post-WWI American bureaucracy and charity overreach. Figures labeled "Government Reconstruction Bureau," "Paris, France," and various charitable causes stand in a line soliciting donations from ordinary citizens. Starving children appear on the right. The joke critiques the proliferation of charitable appeals and government reconstruction efforts (likely related to post-war European relief), suggesting donors are overwhelmed by constant solicitations for causes beyond America's borders. **Lower Section**: "A Taste for the Modern" is a poem celebrating handcrafted silverware from an earlier era, contrasting artistic mastery with modern industrial production. The accompanying illustrations show an antique dealer and a restaurant scene, reinforcing nostalgia for superior craftsmanship. The brief joke about "governmentally" commuting appears unrelated wordplay. Overall, the page reflects post-WWI American ambivalence about foreign aid, governmental expansion, and anxiety about lost artistic standards.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SS ee A Taste for the Modern ing by a silver shop AYHeS passing ilways feel inclined to stop » admire the pieces there, nk what skill, what patient care vaster workmen used to give owvely craft to make it live enius to impart tess to their art ancies came at their command nagic waited on their hand, ere they shaped in silver bright things to last for our delight! “were the Mh. those.” 1 murmur, Gladys at my elbow says. somy arm a little sque Giv . were not half as good as 7 Bliss Carman ‘D ) you commute regularly now?” No, governmentally “say, SUBSCRIBE TO SoMzTHING OR OTHER AND HELP TEED POOR, Downy’ SE Re 5T YOUR mig V. Wey Kip, PAGE MY WALTEK!”