Life — January 22, 1920 — page 15: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a satirical cartoon from *Life* magazine depicting a labor dispute. The drawing shows a heavyset man in work clothes viewed from behind, standing near industrial machinery (possibly a factory or trolley depot). The dialogue reveals the satire: A coworker asks why the man didn't attend a strike meeting. His response—that he "couldn't get there on account of the trolley's strike"—is the joke's punch line. He explains "them trolley men ain't got no consideration for the public." The humor is ironic: the man supports the workers' strike but is inconvenienced by *another* workers' strike (the trolley operators'), exposing the contradiction in labor's collective action when multiple groups strike simultaneously. This likely references early 20th-century labor unrest when multiple industries struck at overlapping times.