Life, 1919-12-04 · page 28 of 80
Life — December 4, 1919 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous domestic story mocking labor unions and striking workers through a satirical narrative. A smugly middle-class husband, dismissing labor unrest as unimportant, learns that house painters now earn a dollar per hour—shocking him into indignation. To prove workers are overpaid, he decides to paint his dining room himself. The joke's target: middle-class men who ignore or scoff at labor movements until they personally confront higher wages. The story satirizes his assumption that painting is "child's play" unworthy of such pay, while the accompanying illustration humorously shows his actual painting attempt—chaotic and absurd, with his wife and relatives watching critically. The message: privileged people dismissing workers' demands lack understanding of actual labor difficulty. The cartoon undermines the narrator's arrogant confidence through physical comedy, revealing the gap between his contempt for workers and the reality of skilled work.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Friend Husband Goes on Strike “TTHE dining-room needs yaintin I remarked to my wife Clara, one night last week as we sat at supper, “Painting, mdeed!” she sniffed “Do you realize how much it would cost to do this room?” “Shouldn't cost) much,” I said, sweeping a speculative eye over the walls and ceiling. “About five dol- lars, ch?” “Five dollars!" she cried derisively “About fifteen, you mean. Don't you know that painters get a dollar an hour now?” Now, I didn’t know that, The late movement of unrest among the labor- ing classes has held but little interest for me; I hardly ever read about these uncouth fellows with their strikes and lockouts and walkouts and absurd de- mands on capital, But this was really too much. “A dollar an hour,” I shouted in- dignantly. “Why, the idea! The im- pertinence of them! I tell you what I am going to do,” I exclaimed in a burst of enthusiasm, “I am going to paint this room myself!” And the next morning I started out to put my determination into execution Before beginning operations I bought: 1 beautiful Camel’s-hair Brush $ 3.00 4 gals. Paint... +++ 12.00 coop LACK! SIR KNIGHT, WHAT IRKETH THEE? 1 qt. Turpentine 55 “wow! wasp IN M’ HELMIT!” 1 pr. Overalls... 1.00 1 Painter's Cap . 1.00 1 Stepladder. teseee $00 “Now,” I said, when I had girded myself for the task and applied the first daub to a piece of wall, “I'll show these fellows whether or not they can come it over the public. A dollar an hour for this child’s play—ha, ha!” As audience, helpers and advisers I had: Uncle Sim Friend-wife Clara Aunt Polly Clara’s brother Joe Sister Psyche Really, if I had been Murillo doing a vaudeville act in a dining-room, I “ WHAT PART OF THE TURKEY DO YOU PREFER, DAN?” could not have drawn a more inter- “THE HEART, PLEASE” ested and critical audience. mm nuce nls comicbooks.com@,