Life, 1923-07-12 · page 25 of 40
Life — July 12, 1923 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes wartime censorship through two pieces: **Text Section**: A mock letter from a "Supreme Censor" absurdly censoring the pirate song "Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest." Each stanza is gutted for ridiculous reasons: "fifteen men" fosters "overcrowding," "rum" corrupts morals, "drink" is deleted, and even "the Devil" is removed because the censor believes humans fail through personal weakness, not external evil. A postscript adds that cheerful noises like "Yo-ho-ho" must go. This mocks heavy-handed wartime censorship that eliminated anything deemed immoral or damaging to morale. **Cartoon Below**: Titled "Necessity Is the Mother of Invention," it shows a massive elephant packed with sightseers labeled "Google the Loud-Voiced Mounts the First Sight-Seeing Bus." This appears to satirize creative wartime solutions or the absurdity of adapting to resource scarcity—likely referencing transportation rationing or innovations during WWI (the likely period based on Life's prominence then). Both mock government overreach and wartime restrictions on everyday life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
. LIFE - 23 Office of the Censor EAR Sir: Following is the report of His Supreme Censor- ship on your poem which runs: (1) Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest, (2.) Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum; (3.) Drink and the Devil had done for the rest, (4.) Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum. In Line 1 the words “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest” must be deleted as in the opinion of the Censor they would foster the sentiment of overcrowding. In Line 2 the words “a bottle of rum” must be deleted as being deleterious to the morals of the community. In Line 3 the word “drink” must be deleted; see opinion on preceding line. In Line 3 the words “The Devil had done for the rest” must be deleted, it being the opinion of the Censor that the fall of a man is due to his own inner waywardness and not to the machinations of any agency outside him. In Line 4 the words “a bottle of rum” must be deleted. See opinion on Line 2. The Censor therefore sanctions the following version of your poem: Faithfully yours, B. Gtum, Secretary to the Censor. P. S. A revised opinion has just come from the Cen- sor in which he demands the deletion of the words “Yo-ho-ho” in Lines 2 and 4 on the ground that they suggest good cheer and hearty noise. NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION GOOGLE THE LOUD-VOICED MOUNTS THE FIRST SIGHT-SEEING BUS, comicbooks.com