Life — November 4, 1920 — page 26: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This six-panel satirical strip mocks various Depression-era complaints and price gouging. The panels lampoon: 1. **Newspaper vendors** charging three cents—depicted as highway robbery 2. **Gasoline prices** at 38¢/gallon, treated as outrageous 3. **Outdoor barbers** demanding $5 daily wages, shown as threatening 4. **Clothing profits**, with a man starving in a garret while profiteers prosper 5. **Six-cent transit fares** as attacks on "inalienable rights" 6. **Liquor prices** at $60/gallon—the final panel shows someone willing to buy stolen goods The strip's ironic title suggests these complaints are actually common grievances, not unusual at all. It satirizes both working-class protests against rising costs and the era's pervasive black-market and crime culture driven by Prohibition and economic hardship.