Life — September 22, 1921 — page 25: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This illustration satirizes stock market speculation during what appears to be the 1920s boom era. A well-dressed man points to a stock ticker board displaying prices and company names (visible entries include "Beth Steel," "Can Pas," "Ches Ohio," "Cubancane," "Hupp Mtg," and others). A woman sits beside him, seemingly distressed or anxious. The caption "Tell Me Not in Mournful Numbers" is a literary reference—likely from Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life"—creating ironic contrast: the woman wants reassurance, but the man can only offer stock ticker numbers. The joke satirizes how investors obsess over financial quotations while ignoring human emotion and real concerns. This reflects contemporary anxiety about market volatility and the disconnect between abstract financial metrics and actual human welfare.