Life — March 25, 1920 — page 29: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes wealthy parents' values and their influence on children. A father on horseback points out a rich man to his young son, proudly declaring the stranger's twenty-million-dollar worth. The son, however, innocently asks what the *horse* is worth—suggesting he either doesn't understand his father's materialistic lesson or finds the animal more interesting than human wealth. The joke critiques the era's plutocracy: the father's attempt to teach his son to admire money and wealthy individuals backfires when the child's natural, unpretentious curiosity deflates the moment. It's satire on how ridiculous parental obsession with wealth appears when confronted with childlike logic, and implicit commentary on how such values corrupt society.