Life — December 29, 1921 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "An 80 Per Cent. Samaritan" This satirical cartoon critiques claims that the War Risk Insurance Hospital (formerly the Polyclinic) had been cleaned up to "80 per cent." cleanliness by Dr. T.O. Cobb of the U.S. Public Health Service. The four scenes mock the absurdity of this partial-cleanliness claim by showing people applying "80 per cent." logic to everyday situations: a teacher giving a student an incomplete grade for being "not 80 per cent. clean," a waiter promising imperfect service, a grocer selling eggs claimed to be "80 per cent. strictly fresh," and a lawyer defending a client as "80 per cent. innocent." The joke exposes how ridiculous it is to accept substandard conditions in a hospital using this fraction, suggesting the facility remains fundamentally unsanitary despite official reassurances.