Life, 1922-03-16 · page 6 of 34
Life — March 16, 1922 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes a fictional 1980 dystopian society governed by the "Society for Moral and Efficient Existence." The main cartoon depicts an "Inventive Small Boy" asking "Please, mister, do you mind crackin' this nut?" while a figure appears trapped inside a large mechanical nutcracker device. The satire critiques excessive moral regulation and social control. The detailed schedule ("The Moral Life") mocks authoritarian enforcement of behavior—fines for swearing, mandatory "morality services," surveillance by "morality police," and destruction of artwork deemed immoral. The nutcracker imagery suggests citizens being crushed by oppressive bureaucratic systems. This reflects early 20th-century anxieties about government overreach and loss of individual freedom, satirizing progressive reformist movements as potentially tyrannical.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Moral Life FFICIAL program of a day in the life of a citizen in 1989, when the reforms advocated by “The Society for Moral and Efficient Existence” will have been adopted f by constitutional amendment. | 5.59 A.M. Wakened by alarm bell controlled from police station. 6.00 Rises and reports to police by wireless phone. 6.03 Enters bath room and checks in on time clock. 6.05 Begins prescribed calisthenics. 6.11 Shaves. Cuts chin. Swears. Cuss words ? registered by dictaphone. 6.15 Checks out of bath room. Fined one nizht at movies for exceeding ten-minute efficiency time limit. Fined two more for swearing. 6.16-19 . Dresses according to regulations forbidding use of colors other than white, black and blue { in wearing apparel. i 6.20 Breakfasts on three cubes of compressed a energy. r. 6.30 Leaves home for morality services. N 6.31-45 Walks to morality center along prescribed route. 6.45 Checked into center by member of morality police. 7-50 Services over. Checked out by same official. 7.50-8.00 Rest period. 8.01 Starts for police station to get work assign- ment for day. 8.15 Assigned to duty with purity squad destroying nude statuary. Leaves under command of As- sistant Director-General of Civic Purity 8.30 Arrives at Metropolitan Museum of Art. 8.31-12.00 Destroys statues. 12.01-12.15 Lunches on two cubes of compressed energy. 12.16-5.30 Destroys more statues. 5.31 Starts for police station. 5.46 Reports. Censured for being one minute late. 6.02 Arrives home. Checks in on time clock. Shakes wife’s hand, being allowed to kiss her only on Mondays and Thursdays. 6.03-6.29 Recreation. 6.31 Dinner: four cubes of compressed energy. 7.15 Wife and two children leave for community movie center. He is sentenced to stay home and miss that thrilling drama, “The Life of St. William H. Anderson.” 7.16-9.15 Reads “Manual for the Inefficient.” 9.16 Wife and children return. 9.30 Prepares for bed. 9.45 Lights turned out by switch at police station. James K, McGuinness. The Raconteuse There was an old codger named Lewis ' Who married a talkative Jewess; The stories she told Were so sprightly and bold Inventive Small Boy: Please, mister, do you mind crackin’ That he called her his Chauncey Depewess. this nut? L.L. P. comicbooks.com