Life — October 21, 1920 — page 13: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes the consequences of a hypothetical strike by U.S. Weather Bureau employees. The image depicts catastrophic chaos: torrential rain pours from a massive cloud-machine above, flooding the landscape below. People scramble in panic—some drowning, others fleeing—while infrastructure crumbles around them. The satire suggests that weather forecasting, though often taken for granted, is essential to public safety and economic function. Without Weather Bureau workers, the cartoon implies, society would face disaster as people couldn't prepare for dangerous conditions. This reflects early-20th-century concerns about labor strikes and their ripple effects on critical government services. The exaggerated devastation underscores how dependent modern civilization had become on institutional expertise.