Life, 1920-04-08 · page 15 of 44
Life — April 8, 1920 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct sections: **"Good Measure, We Hope"** (top): A literary excerpt featuring dialogue with characters expressing meticulous gestures and theatrical language—likely satirizing overly mannered writing or affected speech patterns in contemporary literature. **"New Authors for Old Books"** (middle): A humorous list of fictitious book titles by contemporary writers, mocking both hack writers and literary pretension. **"Democratizing Murder"** (bottom): The main satire critiques sensationalized newspaper coverage of crime. The text argues against "scare headlines" in murder stories, particularly referencing the *Eden Daily Scream*. It advocates for legal restrictions on how newspapers cover murders, arguing that wealthy, socially-prominent individuals unfairly control media narratives. The cartoon below shows two men in a physical altercation, illustrating the violent content driving newspaper sales.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE™ Good Measure, We Hope FEARING that some of our over-exacting readers may feel that we are not keeping alive the truc spirit of modern literature by using the words “meticulous” and gesture” as much as others, we hereby dispose of these vords, once and for all * Uttering a low-set cry of anguish, she gestured toward him.” “His meticulous accents were almost more than she could bear" His gesture did not escape her. She faced him meticu- “Trotzky’s last: gesture was not lost upon the meticulous Lenine.” “Over Mr. Wilson's past record the student of history must not be too sterous; yet his gestures, incere as many of them have been, cannot be passed sver in meticulous silence.” The telephone directory before us has about it nu air of meticulous cacophony which we cannot too highly praise; yet, as we note on page 219 that here is after our own house number an mw instead of an r, we confess to a gesture of despair.” “You are meticulous this evening,’ she wdumbrated.”” ‘You utterly mistake my true gesture,’ he uxtaposed.” New Authors for Old Books A YS YOU LIKE IT, by a Hack Writer. elutocrat of the akfast Table, by H. Gok. Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, by a Work- ing-Man God's Fool, by Billy Sunday. Koughing It, by an American Traveler Seats of the Mighty, by a Baseball Fan E JESTS AT SCAKS WHO NEVER FELT A WOUND Democratizing Murder HALL we have a law against scare headings? The bill which an assemblyman wants the New York legislature to pass would make it a crime for a newspaper to print a head line more than one column wide over a murder story or the story of a murder trial. Why isn’t this a good beginning? The records do not show what kind of a headline the Eden Daily Scream carried on its front page the day Cain killed Abel, but it is well known that the daily papers have been drifting away from the old Old Testament make-up and that the once popular one-column murder is becoming a rarity, Thus the murder in- dustry in America to-day is largely in the hands of the favored few who, by reason of their social position, wealth or importance in the community, can command three-, four-, five- and even eight- column headlines any time they take it into their heads to go out nd get rid of somebody. Millions of plain citizens are just as \ CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE well qualified, and should have equal rights. comicbooks.com