Life — May 25, 1922 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Life Magazine Page **"Sanctum Talk"** satirizes William H. Anderson, president of the Anti-Saloon League (visible in the illustration). Anderson is depicted lecturing someone about Prohibition enforcement with sanctimonious certainty. The satire mocks his self-righteous condemnation of those who question or circumvent Prohibition laws, treating all dissenters as moral failures. Anderson dismisses legitimate concerns by calling critics "blankety-blanks" and threatens them with condescension rather than engaging substantively. **"Dry?"** is a Lewis Carroll-style absurdist poem mocking Prohibition's failures, particularly that despite "two hundred thousand cops" patrolling for half a year, illegal alcohol (the "Walrus" character) persists—suggesting Prohibition was unenforceable and ultimately futile. Both pieces satirize Prohibition-era hypocrisy and the movement's aggressive moralizing.