Life, 1920-06-24 · page 24 of 41
Life — June 24, 1920 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"The Deadly Parallel"** satirizes American progress by contrasting colonial hardships with modern annoyances. Early colonists endured Indian attacks, strict Puritanism, and harsh conditions; contemporary Americans (circa 1910s-20s) suffer from "Grape-juice Bryan" (William Jennings Bryan's temperance advocacy), jazz, flivvers (cheap cars), and futurist art. The joke: modern life's trivial frustrations rival genuine historical suffering. **"Solving the Sugar Problem"** mocks governmental inefficiency. As politicians investigate sugar prices through multiple committees and sub-committees, prices continuously rise (22¢ to 32¢ per pound), then finally drop—only for the "fixed" price to spike back up. The satire exposes how bureaucratic investigation drags on while problems worsen, and how government intervention fails to solve economic issues. **The Puritan Housewife cartoon** makes a simple domestic joke about muddy shoes, requiring no political context.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“iQ eee Puritan Housewife (whose husband has been chased home by the Indians): WILLIAM! HOW MANY TIMES WILL 1 HA 0 TELL. YOU TO GET THE MUD OFF YOUR SHOES BEFORE YOU COME IN! The Deadly Parallel What the Early Colonists Escaped 2 Grape-juice Bryan. novels Congress. Strikes. Prohibition. Vampires. Theda Bara. Presidential obstinacy. After-dinner speakers. Flivvers. Futurist art Offerings yo say that I've never written a thing To you? But, sweet, in all of my lines I sing To you; And whether it’s verse or whether it's prose, You are the tune to which it goes. Each word and rhyme is a gift I bring To you! Whatever I do worth while is wrought Of you. For back of it all is the glowing thought Of you. If ever a line I've writ is fair, It’s the magic of you that has framed it there, Asa golden dream that my soul has caught Of you So though I sing never a single word Of you, Nothing can make my vision blurred Of you, And every syllable, every phrase Of song I make in my singing days Is one my innermost heart has heard Of you! What the Early Colonists Had to Endure Psalm singing. Cotton Mather. Fox's Book of Martyrs. English government. Indian troubles. Puritanism Witches. Anne Hutchinson, Religious fanaticism. Three-hour sermons, Ox carts. Portraits of King James. Haberdasher: SORRY, SIR, WE HAVEN’T A SILK SHIRT LEFT. Solving the Sugar Problem Piss? Representative Votegetter. sub- mits a resolution providing for ine vestigation of the sugar industry. (Sugar is selling at twenty-two cents per pound.) Second—In due course W Means Committee is ordered to conduct sugar investigation. (Sugar selling at twenty-five cents per pound.) Third—In due course sub-committee is appointed to conduct investigation. (Suyar now at twenty-six cents per pound.) Fourth—In due course sub-com: starts its probe and examine: (Sugar now quoted a right cents per pound.) witnesses, fth—In due course investigat concluded and majority reports. (ale strict party lines) are submitted. (Sua now quoted at thirty-two pound.) Sixth cents Action on reports is months, sugar slumps b: pound, for six during which to seventeen cents per Seventh—Majority report adopted, » fixed sugar price of twenty-five cents per pound. (Sugar at once goes up to twenty-five cents per pound.) RIGGS: chance for the wealthy people to join Do you think there is any themselves to the outcasts and the op- pressed? Grices: Why not? This morning | saw the driver of a milk wagon talki to one of our school-teachers. YOU SEE, THERE'S A F LABORERS WORKING OUTSIDE, AND THEY'VE BOUGHT US OUT COMPLETELY comicbooks.com