Life, 1920-04-22 · page 16 of 44
Life — April 22, 1920 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top cartoon satirizes a railroad detective interrogating Jones about a missing bag. The joke hinges on the detective's incompetence: Jones lists the bag's contents (toilet articles, shirts, collars, evening clothes), but the detective asks only what color the clothing was—information utterly useless for recovery. Jones "will probably never recover from the shock" of such bumbling. Below, Hon. Wm. Wheeler complains that legislatures failed to support lecturers adequately, forcing them to work for meager compensation. He argues women's opinions come from men, not other women—likely a reference to women's suffrage debates of the era, suggesting women need male guidance on political matters. The page reflects early-20th-century attitudes toward women's autonomy and bureaucratic inefficiency.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: SLEUTH SAGACITIES Jones (who considers himself the mirror of fashion, to railroad detective) : BEEN EITHER LOST OR STOLEN, Detective: WHAT DID YOU HAVE IN IT? ARTICLES, SHIRTS, COLLARS, ETC., AND y WHAT WAS THE COLOR OF THOSE EV! VENING CLOTHES, G CLOTHES? (Jones will probably never recover from the shock.) A Crisis “I SUPPOSE I ought to feel elated over .he turn events have taken,” said Hon. Wm. Wheezer, noted temper- ance lecturer, “ but I must say, in justice to myself and my colleagues, that I do think the legislatures were too pre- cipitate inf the matter of Prohibition. “Why do I think so? Have I not traveled season after season, giving my time and risking my health, with no remuneration save the paltry hundred per I received for a lecture, plus expenses, and—ahem!—a share of the gate— beg pardon, box-office receipts? And I am sure I can say the same for my colleagues. “Tt's a downright shame! The least the legislatures could haye done, it seems to me, would have been to give us a few years more at our noble work of doing the people good. As it is now, I suppose there is nothing for us to do but to go to work for a living.” \WOMEN always get their opinions from men, and not from other women. THE STOKER'S DAY OFF MY BAG HAS comicbooks.com