Life, 1921-02-24 · page 27 of 32
Life — February 24, 1921 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon ("The Power of Contrast"):** This depicts a horse-trading scene where a buyer inspects a skinny horse while the seller's hired man—deliberately dressed in a union suit (underwear) to appear equally lean—stands beside it. The joke: the contrast makes the horse look better by comparison. This satirizes deceptive sales tactics and the phrase "power of contrast" as a sales strategy. **Left Column ("The Old Abused Stomach"):** A humorous poem parodying "The Old Oaken Bucket," complaining about contradictory dietary advice. It mocks health-conscious lectures about "friendly and unfriendly germs" and food dangers—apparently a contemporary concern—leaving the sufferer eating only nuts and zwieback (dry toast), dissatisfied either way. **Bottom Right ("Lack of Foresight"):** A brief joke about government fiscal incompetence: if they'd printed two thousand-dollar bills initially instead of one, they'd have avoided current printing problems. Light political satire about government planning failures.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE moment > which ¢ head. at the Xe him, But [ bridge, ir faire wburban, y mom judged Is; now any old he thing priations ider re g for February 24 THE POWER OF CONTRAST THE DAY THE BUYER CAME TO LOOK AT OLD DOBBIN, UNCLE SILAS HAD HIS LEAN HIRED MAN The Old Abused Stomach (With Apologics to The Old Oaken Bucket) OW dear to my heart are the whims of my stomach When acute indigestion presents them to view! Each idiosyncrasy proves entertaining To me though they be of no interest to you. On things that I can cat, And things that I can’t eat, The things that I must eat Alone do I dwell, And when I have eaten, I wish that I had not When friends of the evils of food fondly tell. How dear to my heart are the anti-focd lectures, The lectures on friendly and unfriendly germs; The poisons of food and the dangers of eating Are pictured so strongly in unmeasured terms. The things that I would eat, The things that T should eat, The things that I once ate— STAND AROUND IN HIS UNION SUIT Each one they forbid, And sadly I turn to the nuts and the zwieback In which they say virtues of healing are hid. Clara Cox Epperson. I ISTORY reverses itself. Mother: “YM OWIN’ B. Lack of Foresight “| SEE the Government is planning to get out a thousand dollar bill.” “Tf they'd only printed two in the first place they'd have been spared the trouble.” new WILLIE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT OILCAN? S$ TONGUE SO HE KIN TALK,” comicbooks.com