Life, 1922-03-30 · page 11 of 34
Life — March 30, 1922 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon depicts a traffic stop where a **Constable Slackputter** arrests a motorist for speeding. The constable tells the motorist he won't give excuses a chance, while the motorist protests his innocence—a humorous reversal where authority figures ignore plausible defenses. The page's articles address post-WWI concerns: "Wanted: A Grievance" criticizes the Disarmament Conference and blames England's Gulf Stream location for making it a non-arctic nation (thus responsible for global warming). This appears satirical commentary on international politics and environmental responsibility. "The Articulate Lover" is a sentimental poem about romantic expression—a tonal contrast to the political content above it.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Halt. Ye're Motorist: What for? under arrest. Constable Slackputter: Never ye mind. I ain’t goin’ tuh give ye any chance tuh think up excuses, Wanted: A Grievance TT I wl for ni dange Pes time Engle hat papers journal Of co porary down- acute gether ances Tt se in the starts own Ameri Disarmament Conference, ich put an end to the struggle supremacy and minimized the of an Asiatic war, seriously ( Mr. Hearst's style. The Irish vas made things worse. For the ing, he has nothing to argue at (| about. makes it difficult for his news- to live up to their standard as s “for people who THINK!” rse this situation is purely tem- you can’t keep a good Hearst but at the moment it is really and it is up to us all to get to- and think up some new griev- or the Anglophobes to air. ms to me that the solution lies Gulf Stream. This current in the Gulf of Mexico, off our tores, and accumulating real an warmth. It then wanders up ited States coast and across the , and is entirely responsible for t that England is a non-arctic country. Were it not for this Gulf Stream, London would be no more than a vast expanse of ice, with pos- sibly a small colony of igloos here and there; and Wapping-old-stairs probably would not at all. In view of this, England owes a vast debt to us, and it is up to Mr. Hearst to go out and collect it. Let him urge Congress to pass an act compelling the Secretary of the Treasury each month to send a bill for heating to the British Chancellor of the Exchequer— “for services of one (1) Gulf Stream.” Of course, the English themselves will enter into the spirit of the thing, will call up, on cold mornings, to know if we're ever going to turn the heat on, reminding us that “it expressly states in the lease that the janitor must maintain a minimum tem- perature of 60° (F.) throughout the building.” That will be fun for us all, I am sure. And think of the editorials that Mr. Brisbane will be able to write! R. E, Sherwood. and us winter The Articulate Lover , in thy presence when T seek To sing the song that fills my tg heart, I think—a lover ununique— How weak the words, how start! How tied my tongue, how poor, I think, The spoken phrase, how dull and trite! Give me my paper, pen, and ink— I say it better when I write. slow to And oh, my dearest, when I try The written word, I curse the pen And think, alas! if only I Could see thee I could tell thee then. And yet, although complete success Of neither tongue nor pen be mine, Thou must, carissima, confess I’m goldarned good in either line. Franklin P, Adams. Census Man: Married or single? Catersy: Fifty-fifty. comicbooks.com