Life, 1921-06-09 · page 14 of 38
Life — June 9, 1921 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This *Life* magazine page satirizes the railroad labor crisis through Senator Sounder's perspective. The article criticizes railroad management for mismanagement and excessive overhead costs (train announcers, Pullman porters, unnecessary staff). The cartoons mock solutions: one depicts a senator announcing "the Boston train" (suggesting administrative bloat), another shows porters as "prohibition enforcement agents in disguise," sarcastically implying they confiscate contraband rather than serve passengers. The bottom comic strip, "The Resourceful Laundress," appears unrelated—a separate humorous feature showing a woman finding creative solutions, typical of *Life's* mixed satirical content. The satire targets both railroad management waste and what appears to be Prohibition-era absurdities affecting rail service.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Meeting the Rail Crisis Head-On Senator Sounder Points the Way to Victory for the Traveling Public I THOUGHT HE WAS ANNOU BOSTON TRAIN, CING THE Special Correspondence ASHINGTON, June 4—There is W no disguising the fact that our railroads are in a bad way. They have actually begun to boast of their de- ficits, and I've no doubt that a road would feel a little annoyed if it should turn in a profit some month, According to the Railway Management the cause of the trouble is Labor, and s the Man- seems to according to Labor the cause agement. Senator Cummins think that the Managers have guessed right, whereas Senator La Follette—but then you know what he would think, any- As for myself, being essentially a diplomatist, I am inclined to favor both sides, Certainly, with the roads paying a bil- lion or so more for labor than in 1917, and with car-window washers getting almost I should think that the workers, especially the unskilled, could take a reasonable wage cut, without having to sell their automobiles or mort- as much as conductors, By GLUYAS WILLIAMS gage their country estates. Another thing that would help to keep the wolf from the station door would be the discarding of the one hundred and eighty-two national agreements that Congress thought up and presented to the railroads. Under these agrecments it is impossible for the roads to ask their employees to do a which makes railroading somewhat diffi- ny work, cult, and traveling rather hazardous. On the other hand, there must be some- thing in the charge that the roads are wastefully managed, for offhand they could save even To ocan sngyest several ways in which clerks and announcers are wholly unnecessary In all my travels I have come upon only one train-announcer whom I could understand at all; and that Time-tables, information train items of expense. fellow, I discovered some four hours later, THEY ARE REALLY PROHIBITION EN- FORCEMENT AGENTS IN DISGUISE, NATOR LA FOLLETTE ENTS PROOF OF A RAILROAD CONSPIRACY TO SENATOR CUMMINS. had called Schenectady when I thought he was announcing the Boston train. | re- member the incident with especial pain because Mrs. Sounder was along. I could gladly dispense with Pullman porters, too—especially those who keep in hiding until the end of the trip, when they dash forth, seize your satchel from your hand, and hurl it to the cement plat- form below. The only explanation for this curious custom is that the porters are really prohibition enforcement agents in disguise, and that they are listening for the sound of tinkling glass to betray your hidden contraband Unless the roads and their employees come to a reasonable agreement, there seems to be an excellent prospect that we shall all have to do a bit of walking. And as a means of getting about the country especially for a man of my figure, wall offers no allurements whatever. Senator Sounder. E RESOURCEFUL LAUNDRESS, comicbooks.com