Life, 1922-07-27 · page 13 of 36
Life — July 27, 1922 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The page contains two distinct items: **Top Cartoon:** Shows soldiers in military uniforms speaking with a captain about having their photograph taken. The caption indicates they're negotiating to pose in "new uniform cheap" in exchange for letting the captain "stick one in yer winlder" (display it in his window). This satirizes soldiers as commodities in a commercial transaction and mocks both military vanity and the commercial exploitation of uniformed personnel for publicity. **Bottom Section:** "Names on Request" discusses the American trend of public name-display (on desks, tickets, storefronts). It satirizes how business increasingly uses employees' names as marketing tools, treating identification as a form of worship. The poem "To a Chamois" appears unrelated to the satirical content above.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Captain: Say, mister! if ye'll take our photo in our new uniform cheap, we'll let ye stick one in yer winder. Names on Request ETTING Your Name Before the Public is rapidly becoming the most fashionable American pastime. icity is the all-powerful deity at whose shrine every man, woman and child is wont to worship. The electric ns in front of the theatres have burned their way into the national soul. Everybody is doing it. Every desk in every office has its occupant’s name emblazoned on it in gold letters. here is a sign on every ticket window in every rail- road station, proclaiming the identity of the gentleman who informs you that there are no lowers left. Re- cently a large traction corporation issued a ukase to the effect that henceforth all its employees, motormen id conductors, must wear identification tags so that its patrons might know how to address the fellow who shouts, “Next Stop—Brwggzzmpff Street.” A large ice cream parlor has placed cards beneath the glass tops of” iis tables announcing that “The name of your waitress is Miss Pearl Quirk.” Of course, with an initial impetus like this, the prac- will spread until it includes the entire population. Fveryone will wear place cards around his, her or its neck, Possibly there will be the additional information, “Tf lost—return to 51717.8 North Beamish Boulevard, Quince City, Mo.” So that, when a policeman stops the traffic to permit you to wheel your baby carriage across the street, you will be able to say, “I am highly indebted to you for this act of courtesy, Mr. Callahan”; or when a taxi driver overcharges you, you can remark, “Look here, Ronald Throckmorton of 226 University Heights, where do you get this stuff?” And, by the way, the signature of the scribe who wrote these lines is— R. E. S. To a Chamois ING-FOOTED chamois, with your gaze so wide And so untroubled, nibbling a wild rose, So unsuspecting of what will betide! The heart that beats against your tender side, How can it warn you that your little hide Will spread the powder on Camilla’s nose? Wing-footed chamois, with your gaze so wide And so untroubled, nibbling a wild rose! ML, comicbooks.com