Life — September 9, 1920 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Dog Star" - A Political Cartoon Analysis This page from *Life* magazine features "The Dog Star," a satirical cartoon showing a dog gazing upward at a star. The accompanying text criticizes Chicago's recent crime wave, noting the city has established a "new crime record for the United States" by staging "no less than twenty-five hold-ups within the city limits in one day." The cartoon uses the dog star (Sirius) as a metaphor, with the image likely suggesting Chicago should "wake up" and address its lawlessness. The text references Bishop Berkeley and Horace Greeley, invoking the latter's famous phrase "Go West" to sardonically suggest that westward expansion brought criminals and chaos rather than opportunity. The satire targets Chicago's boastful claims of supremacy while facing mounting crime problems.