Life, 1923-03-22 · page 12 of 36
Life — March 22, 1923 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes mechanization and future automation. Two grotesquely elongated robotic figures with mechanical limbs operate a pleasure device, while tiny human figures operate controls below. The caption reads: "Human beings starting on a pleasure trip about fifty years hence." The satire critiques fears that machines will become so dominant that humans will be reduced to insignificant operators of their own leisure. The exaggerated proportions—massive mechanical bodies dwarfing tiny humans—suggest anxiety about technological control and dehumanization. The surrounding text contains unrelated satirical commentary on contemporary topics: war prevention, free speech, radio broadcasting, and various social observations typical of Life magazine's humor. The cartoon's perspective reflects early-20th-century concerns about industrial progress potentially diminishing human agency and importance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HE best way’ to abolish war is to put it on a pay-as-you-enter basis. +L Congress has taken a recess, but cheer up; the circus is coming. —L President Harding is A husband and wife served on the same jury in Minnesota. The jury, of course, disagreed. aL Now that free seeds have been abol- ished, it’s time for reformers to tackle free speech. Our radio lecturers are now heard in Great Britain, but by the time our 8 p. M. programs start, the Brit- ish have been asleep four hours. That gives them a four-hour start on us. LL Mesopotamians, a con- reported to have reach- ed the conclusion that it will take twenty years to make the coun- try dry. Beginning when? LL Just at present the Anti-Saloon League is suffering from a bad attack of truth-ache. aL England will raise the Duke of York’s income from £10,000 to £25,- 000 a year as soon as the Duke is married. That's what Britain thinks of this two-can- li v e-as-cheaply-as-one theory. con A Conference of the Powers is good for one thing, anyway: it shows up, pretty con- clusively, the powers of a conference. Perhaps one reason why Shakespeare never repeats is that in those YouR GROOVE UNDER PENALTY JL The Perfection of the Machine Age Human beings starting on a pleasure trip about fifty years hence. temporary informs us, have no money. = This seems to make it pretty nearly unanimous. -L The electric — sand treatment for destroy ing clouds is not likely to appeal to the thrifty until someone invents a way of saying the sil- ver lining. After seeing the news- paper snapshots of numerous titled hus- bands of American women arriving here, we understand why their brides do not have to pay duty on them. WL The more you think of coal barons, meat mon- archs, sugar kings and such, the more locusts seem like pretty decent parasites. They only tackle the ul- timate consumers once every seventeen years. aL days they hadn’t any carbon paper. President Wojciechjewski of Poland won't exactly fit in our newspaper headlines, but he ought to go big in our eye-testing charts. LL Scientists estimate that the Penn- sylvania coal deposits are 30,000,- 000 years old. It must be the rock of ages that’s been peddled for coal this year. aL No one would have objected very much to a cold shortage. No matter how significant the ges- tures of the average screen star may be, she fails to carry conviction because she merely goes through the emotions. L Those New York hold-up men are certainly clever; you’ve got to hand it to them. L The State of Oregon now requires mental tests of all applicants for marriage licenses. This sounds to us like inexcusable race suicide. A new stamp has been issued by former Postmaster-Gen- eral Will H. Hays. It is the stamp of approval. LL “The present rate of insanity in- crease,” says Dr. J. M. Hurty, “in- dicates that the last sane person will disappear from the United ‘States in 2123.” This gives Henry Ford just about 200 years to live. aL Arrests in Salt Lake City for smok- ing in restaurants suggest that that is no place for a lady. comicbooks.com