Life, 1919-05-08 · page 15 of 46
Life — May 8, 1919 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes **Prohibition** (the nationwide ban on alcohol sales, 1920-1933). The image shows a man looking out a basement window at ground level, with the caption "WELL, I GOT THE WINDOW OPEN, ANYHOW!" The joke: During Prohibition, people evaded the law by operating illegal bars and distilleries in basements. The man's comment is darkly ironic—he's celebrating a minor victory (opening a window for ventilation) while conducting clearly illegal alcohol production below ground. The cartoon mocks both the futility of trying to hide such operations and suggests Prohibition itself is so unpopular that people openly flout it, finding grim humor in their law-breaking. The piece criticizes Prohibition as impractical and unenforceable.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE™ sewed terner: RIDE HIM? NoT ME! LOOK AT WHAT HE WHEN A MERE FLY GETS ON HIM! Easier to Bear E can be thankful for one thing about national Prohi- bition, anyway.” What can that be?” Jt will prevent that intended wholesale emigration of rmans to this country after the war.” Those Perpetual Children HE time is close at hand for the beginning of the annual torture season of the city child. Soon we shall have again the torrid heat, the evil smells and the bad air of the tenement districts. gs to the green fields, the running brooks and the refreshing breezes of the country is the happy lot of To go for two weeks from these surround those children who become guests at Lire’s Fresh Air Farm. It has been discovered that the annual interest from two hundred dollars of four-and-a-quarter-per-cent. Liberty Bonds provides each year just about the amount to pay Devoted Air Endowment, the bonds ‘or such a relief of a poor child from torment to the foundation of a Fresh go on with their work of mercy through all the hot sum- mers to come. The details are given below We have received from a generous donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, two hundred dollars in the bonds blish FRESH AIR ENDOWMENT No. 28 Britey of Brooklyn. Mrs. Oswald Brown undred dollars in the b In memory of Heten B. We have received from Mawr, Washington, establish FRESH AIR ENDOWMENT NO. 29 In the Name of Simron Letaxo, From an anonymous donor we have received two hun- dred dollars in bonds and five dollars to replace clipped coupons to establish FRESHL In the Name of Tue AIR ENDOWMENT NO, 30 Tiree To establish a Fresh Air Endowment two hundred dollars in Liberty Loan 4!4-per-cent. bonds should be sent by registered mail to Lire resh Air Fund, Inc, 17 West Thirty-first Street, New York City The income from this amount provides that every su in perpetuity, a poor child will be sent from the slums of New York for a fortnight’s stay This work has now been carried on for thirty-one years, in which time more than forty health and happiness from it A Fresh Air Endowment may bear any designation its donor chooses. nmer, in the fresh air of the country, thousand children have gained Business Cards of the New Day LLE. HONORA, Household Engineer. Beds recon- structed; dishes bathed; family breakfasts. Circular. O'Kelly & Maloney, Plumbing by the Minute. Refer- ences required. All requests to be considered must be accompanied by certified check. G. Washington Jones, Hod Elevator. until three. Estimates furnished. Rosario Blanco, Railroad Track Ballasting. McAdoo. By appointment only. Willie Jones, Lawns. Five dollars a square foot. No terraces. Raking extra. Thursdays, eleven Served with WING to the apparently unavoidable absence of the President, Postmaster-General Burleson’s resignation has not yet been accepted. comicbooks.com