Life — March 8, 1923 — page 13: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Life magazine cartoon depicts three figures at the U.S. Capitol building. Two characters labeled "Walrus" and "Carpenter" (likely referencing the Lewis Carroll poem) discuss cleaning the Capitol steps. The Walrus says they could get it done by next July if they had "seventy cops with seventy mops," to which the Carpenter responds skeptically, "I doubt it," while wiping a watery eye. The satire targets Congressional inefficiency and corruption—suggesting that even massive cleaning efforts couldn't purify the institution. The "seventy cops with seventy mops" humorously exaggerates what would be needed to metaphorically clean up Congress's problems. The reference to the literary characters adds intellectual wit to the critique of government dysfunction.