Life, 1920-03-25 · page 8 of 40
Life — March 25, 1920 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical cartoons addressing early 20th-century American anxieties. **"The Bread Line"** (top) depicts unemployed men waiting for charity, illustrating economic hardship. The accompanying text mocks overly strict Prohibition advocates, suggesting their zealotry creates spiritual emptiness comparable to destitution—a critique of Prohibition's social costs. **"Bombs and Bolshevism"** (bottom) shows a formal gathering disrupted by violent revolution. The caption's reference to laying down to sleep suggests complacency among the prosperous elite toward growing radical movements. The cartoon satirizes wealthy citizens ignoring or dismissing the threat of communist/anarchist revolution, implying their indifference to social inequality fuels radicalism. Both cartoons critique American responses to poverty and social unrest during the post-WWI era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Dangers of Too Clean a Sweep [8 the Gospel reading in the Episco- pal prayer book for the third Sun- day in Lent it says: “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and gar- nished. Then goeth he and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” What ho! Prohibition brethren. Do you mind that? Dost note this strik- ing peril of too much aridity? How about mild wines and low- power beer to moisten the dry places a bit, so that when the outcast spirits walk through them, seeking rest, they may sit down somewhere and have something, and not be driven, willy- nilly, back with companions into the unfortunate body they were driven out of? Dost insist, brethren, on reaction? That is what it is when the unclean spirit comes back to his house. THE BREAD LINE OROTHY repeats daily and de- lightedly with the primary grade the salute to the Flag. This is her version: “T pledge allegiance to the Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation invisible, with liberty and justice far off.” ACKSON: How far along are you on that new home you're building? Treston: My wife and I have got- ten to the point where we don’t speak. BOMBS AND BOLSHEVISM Prominent Citizen: NOW 1 LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP comicbooks.com