Life — May 12, 1921 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The High Cost of Asking" This cartoon satirizes the difficulty of borrowing money during what appears to be an economic period of financial constraint. The illustration shows a woman on her knees pleading with a man for money, captioned: "For his wife to get money from Breese, / She would have to get down on her knees. / He'd start, / With that thirty-two / 'I have you last August, Louise?'" The joke critiques stingy or reluctant lending between acquaintances—the man "Breese" apparently loaned money to this woman in August and now uses that as leverage to refuse further assistance. The cartoon mocks both the humiliation required to ask for money and the creditor's harsh attitude toward repeated requests for financial help.