Life, 1922-07-27 · page 6 of 36
Life — July 27, 1922 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon depicts children at a garden gate watching adults behave strangely. The accompanying article discusses the absurdity of passport application requirements. The satire targets bureaucratic inconsistency: the author notes that while some countries issue passports freely for pleasure travel (Poland, Romania, etc.), the U.S. State Department inexplicably denied his passport application despite being "white" and wishing to visit England and France. The cartoon illustrates this bureaucratic madness—the adults appear disheveled and irrational ("mamma looks such a nut with her hair all down"), suggesting that passport officials behave illogically and arbitrarily. The piece satirizes government inefficiency and discriminatory application standards, with the children's confused observations mirroring readers' bewilderment at such policies.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Tommy: Where do we come in? A.Bivaost. They’ve had our pogo sticks for the last hour! Sally: Yes, and mamma looks such a nut with her hair all downl T is no exaggeration to say there are several kinds of minds. Mine happens to be one of the sort which, when confronted with an elaborate form to be filled in, such as an in- come tax blank or an application for a passport, suddenly runs and hides, and if coaxed or bullied becomes hysterical. Recently I’ve been trying to get a passport. Before I began I had a general idea that I had been born, that the episode had occurred in this coun- try, that I was white and that I wished to go to England and France. After I had finished I came to believe that it was all a dream— beautiful, if you will, but undeniably a dream. Picking up the information sheet, which had been sent me along with the application blank, what was my consternation to read that The Dotty Line b. Passports are not issued for pur- poses of pleasure, tourist travel, or recreation to: Poland, Rou- mania, Latvia, Lithuania, Estho- nia, Vladivostok, Russia, Siberia, Bulgaria, Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Armenia, Persia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kurdistan and Mesopotamia. (Passports are issued for tourist travel or recreation to Constan- tinople, Mersina, Smyrna, Pales- tine, Beirut, Jaffa, Aleppo, Da- mascus and Bagdad.) It came as a blow in the face. Immediately I was on fire to see with my own eyes the family life of a Croat or a Slovene. Oh, to be in Azerbaijan now that June is here! But for some obscure reason, the State Department said no. On the other hand, I could go to Mersina if I chose, and still better, I could go without any passport what- ever to Paraguay and Honduras. “Oh, well,” I said, laying aside the information sheet and taking up the application blank, “I'll stick—Eng- land and France for me.” “IT solemnly swear that I was born—————— at ___ in the State of. on or about the day of: 1—.” Now how could I swear to that? It was all hearsay so far as I was con- cerned. Still, there was no sense in flubbing the trip just because I was squeamish as to the actual facts: so I swore. Then by easy stages I came to Description of Applicant and I turned to the information sheet for guidance. It ran as follows: Age— Forehead—High, low, broad, nar- row, receding, square or medium. I got a mirror and tried to decide. It was a pretty question. At last I wrote “High and broad.” Decidedly comicbooks.com