Life, 1919-09-11 · page 16 of 48
Life — September 11, 1919 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the epidemic of labor strikes occurring in America by imagining President Wilson and other former presidents forming a union demanding better working conditions. The text mockingly lists absurd "strikes" by everything from silkworms to barnyard hens, then proposes that presidents themselves have unionized, demanding twelve-year terms instead of four, $500,000 annual salaries, and a two-hour work week. The top cartoon shows two men at a bust, with a caption about an "author-soldier" who refused to write about his experiences—likely referencing a contemporary public figure. The middle illustration depicts a tree carved with "LOVE YOU"—a sentimental cliché. The bottom cartoon shows fashionable women, with the caption joking that tight skirts are going out of fashion—a lighthearted jab at contemporary clothing trends. Overall, the page uses humor to mock both the strike movement's proliferation and the notion that even presidents might demand labor protections.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: A Natural Sequence TRIKES being the order of the day, and everybody and everything having struck, from the International Union of Ancient and Industrious Silkworms and the Cackling Coalescence of Barnyard Hens to the American Merger of Tonsorial Artists and the un-American Pajama Makers’ Fusion, the startling rumor from Washington, D. C., seems quite worthy of belief that President Wilson has also struck. However, as one man never strikes alone— the whole fascination of the striking process depending upon the formation of leagues, alliances and coalitions of one form or another—an organization has been founded, so runs the rumor, to be known as the Honorable Union of United States Presidents, ex-Presidents and Presiden- tial Candidates, who are demanding that the term shall be twelve years instead of four, and that the salary shall be raised to five hundred thousand dollars per year. An effort will also be made to pass a law limiting the President’s working day to two hours every other Thurs- day. It is said that Messrs. Wilson, Taft, Hughes, Parker, Bryan and Marshall are a unit in this matter, and will move heaven and earth to bring about the desired results. “WHOSE BUST, JONES?” Should Congress refuse to enact the proposed laws, “OWE WAS THE ONLY AUTHOR-SOLDIER WHO REFUSED TO WRITE there is every probabil so our Washington correspond- \ ROOK ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCES,” ent asseverates, that the powerful members of this honor- able union will throw bricks and milk bottles through the windows of the Senate and House, wreck the Supreme Court room and otherwise make themselves known and felt after the manner of strikers generally FASHION DECREE “ou! WHAT SMALL WE DO? TIGH? SKIRTS ARE GOING OUT A CHESTNUT OF FASHION” comicbooks.com