Life, 1919-12-25 · page 9 of 37
Life — December 25, 1919 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon:** This is a social satire on remarriage and class consciousness. At a beach club, a woman points out her new husband to friends, noting his previous wife. The punchline—"Don't you remember? She is my second husband's wife"—is a deliberately confusing joke about marital complexity, likely mocking either the speaker's pretentiousness or the social awkwardness of remarriage among the wealthy. **Bottom Section:** A letter from "Major Sir Henry Smiler-Watkin" discusses British labor disputes. He references a conference between "Labor, Capital and the Public" where labor leader "Gompers" (likely Samuel Gompers, American labor organizer) withdrew, declaring nothing could improve conditions. The satirical point critiques labor unrest and its effects on both nations' economies during what appears to be early 20th-century industrial conflict.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AT THE BEACH CLUB “THERE GOFS MY FIRST HUSBAND WITH HIS PRESENT WIFE.” “LET'S SEE, WHO IS SHE?” “DON'T YOU REMEMBER? SHE IS MY SECOND HUSBAND'S WIFE.” Maior Sir Henry Smiler-Watkin to His Wife Washington, D. C. RICELESS OLD THING: You will be interested to know that old England is not the only country which is so beastly beset with strikes and what not. There has been a conference here between Labor, Capital and the Public. What bally use the Public was I cannot see, for their repre- sentatives were about half and half Labor and Capital, and when did Capital and Labor ever pay any attention to the Public, anyway? At any rate, they fell out in the end, and Labor with- drew jolly well miffed. Their leader, an extraordinary person named Gompers, who was born on the East Side of London, I believe, and has come to be leader of the Labor Party, stated that he wes not bitter against anybody or anything; that nothing could make him bitter; that bit- terness could not find a place in his nature, and on top of it he withdraws from the conference and goes out to start more strikes. Silly claptrap, what? . I am not at all certain, my dear, that it is not a good thing for old England to be under such a debt. At any rate, it is not a good thing for America to be so rich. One gets the impression that the people are speculating beyond their means and are living on the brink of a panic. The “ WELCOME, LITTLE STRANGER!”