Life, 1920-10-28 · page 44 of 46
Life — October 28, 1920 — page 44: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical cartoon personifies **Ignorance** as a female figure preparing to tour America, lamenting that her influence has weakened during her "absence." She resolves to restore public ignorance by controlling information about: - Political realities - Financial systems - Lenin and Trotsky (Russian Revolution leaders) - The suffering of Poland and Armenia - The League of Nations The satire mocks what Life magazine saw as forces *maintaining* American ignorance: **"the movies, the flivvers [cheap cars], the best sellers, the financiers and the historians."** This reflects 1920s progressive concerns that commercial entertainment, consumerism, and establishment institutions deliberately kept Americans uninformed about radical politics, international affairs, and social justice issues. The cartoon criticizes both Ignorance itself and the systems enabling it—suggesting these forces actively suppress informed citizenship rather than accidentally lacking knowledge.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE. To soothe sore, scratchy throats, to relieve hoarseness, to allay coughing, Piso’s for 56 years has been a haven of relief— both to young and old. Always keep it in the house—ready for instant use. It contains no opiate, 3Se at your druggist’s Just in Time GNORANCE was about to make her annual tour of the United States of America, “During my enforced absence in other countries of the globe,” said Ignorance, “I am reluctantly compelled to believe that some glimmerings of light have dawned on this prosperous and discon- tented people. And this in spite of the fact that I left on guard the movies, the flivvers, the best sellers, the financiers and the historians. My veil has several small holes in it. Dear me! I must set matters right.” Whereupon she proceeded to make them immune once more to any knowldege of The true course of politics; The entrancingly beautiful and iridescent windings of our financial system; The world ambitions of two gentlemen named Lenin and Trotzky; The sufferings of Poland and Armenia, And the true meaning of the League. DUNHILL PIPES WHITE DOT AND ARE STAMPED NHig oo) LONDO} M.M. Importing Co. 6 East 45th St. N.Y. SOLE AGENTS IN THE U.S. The American Family Tree The chronic Brooklynite for the roid HE American Forestry Association plant. has asked the people of the United The bathing girl for the becch. The baseball player for the willow, The lady of fashion for the fir, The susceptible youth for the peach The poker player for the pear. The bellboy for the palm. The railroad employee for the plan The professional humorist for the che States to select, by popular vote, a suitable national tree. We venture to suggest that some of the votes will be cast as follows: The Bolshevist will vote for the redwood. The amateur distiller for the juniper. The severe school-teacher for the birch. Holding fast to the high journalistic ideals which have given} and power to the national magazine, the Metropolitan servey | largest magazine-reading group of forward-looking Amenq The dominant mark of the Metropolitan is the will to fac | realities of life and the urge of true progressiveness whichi life-giving quality of a magazine as of a nation. A se humor and a fine appreciation of balance saves the Metrop0 from the pedantry of the highbrow. So in the pages of thes magazine which told the truth in 1919 about Russia, is f | the joyous William Sylvanus Baxter of “Seventeen” 4 And the Metropolitan, which ripped the flub dub and red he | cut of the Steel Strike Controversy, gives the American p) the fresh, charming love stories of Larry Evans. The Metropolitan is on sale at all good newsstands—25 cents a copy: Subscription by the year is three dollars, which may be sent direct to the publishers, Metropolitan Publications, 432 Fourth Avenue, New York, or placed with any representative of our authorized selling agents, the Periodical Publishers Service Bureau, with branches in all leading cities. PETER J. CAREY, PRINTER . XUM comicbooks.comi™