Life, 1919-10-23 · page 10 of 36
Life — October 23, 1919 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page addresses a printers' strike in New York City. The editorial defends publishers and "decent American workmen" against what it calls "radical members of unions" and "lawless, foreign" elements seeking to destroy American institutions through anarchism. The cartoon below depicts this conflict: businessmen on the left appear calm and controlled, while on the right, figures amid flames and chaos represent the strike's violence and disruption. The caption—about "Smith" losing his fortune and uncertainty over who serves whom—satirizes the social upheaval and role reversals the strike threatens. Life presents the strike as fundamentally un-American, positioning itself with established order against labor radicalism portrayed as foreign-influenced anarchism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘LIFE IFE apologizes for the imperfec- tions in its appearance and delays in its delivery, caused by the printers’ strike in New York City. We feel that we can safely rely on the indulgence of its readers and advertisers, and that when they know the facts they will rally loyally to Lire’s support. Until recently, the labor unions in the printing trades have been controlled by the better element among the artisans. They were American organ- izations, and could be relied upon for fair play and a disposition to carry out the contracts they made. The combined publishers are trying to strengthen the hands of the decent American workingmen and women in the unions. Of late the control of some local labor unions has passed out of the conservative members’ hands and now rests with the lawless, foreign element. The better men are putting up a contest to keep their organizations up to the old standards, but they are howled down and terrorized by the vociferous and lawless Bolsheviks whose aim seems to be to destroy American institutions. The Printers’ Strike All of the reputable publishers and employing printers are joined in the purpose to resist tne atrocious demands formulated by the radical members of the unions. To yield now means virtually handing over the cc 1 of their businesses and property to men who will not even keep their agreements with their fellow- workmen, men who have rebelled against the authority of their own general unions, which, in consequence, have outlawed them. This is a contest between the American sense of law and order and the foreign obsession of anarchy. Lire is peculiarly an American institution, and it purposes to meet this issue in an American way and to fight the fight with all its resources and with all the Ameri- can courage it possesses. With the support and the good will of the American people, which have never failed it, there can be no doubt of the result. Meanwhile we only ask our readers and adver- tisers to be patient with our temporary short- comings. “WHAT IS SMITH GOING TO DO, NOW THAT HIS FORTUNE IS GONE?” “HE'S UNDECIDED WHETHER TO BE CHAUFFEUR TO HIS FORMER BUTLER, OR BUTLER TO HIS FORMER CHAUFFEUR comicbooks.comal,