Life, 1923-07-12 · page 26 of 40
Life — July 12, 1923 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical piece by Robert C. Benchley mocking Congressional extravagance during summer recess. The cartoon above depicts soldiers or military personnel, likely illustrating the absurdity of government-funded leisure disguised as official business. Benchley's text ridicules five fictional "Tours" where Congress members take taxpayer-funded vacations under pretense of investigation: - **Tour A**: Senators touring Europe/Asia studying "hors d'oeuvres" for a Senate restaurant - **Tour B**: House members examining sand quality at luxury resorts - **Tour C**: Cross-country highway inspection via best hotels - **Tour D**: A Prohibition Committee "testing" liquor laws nationwide - **Tour E**: Coastal "fishing research" with government support The joke: Congress wastes tax money on lavish trips justified by trivial official purposes. The final item mentions Pennsylvania Governor Giff (likely Gifford Pinchot) enforcing Prohibition—contrasting ordinary citizens' restricted two-week vacations fixing their yards versus politicians' extended government-funded trips.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Rookie: PLEASE, SERGEANT, MAY I FALL OUT? Sergeant (roughly): WHADDYE WANNA FALL OUT FOR? Rookie: VE GOT A TRADE-LAST FOR THE MAJOR, [* case you would like to know where some of your income tax money is going for its summer vaca- tion, we take grim pleasure in out- lining a few of the ideal tours on which the Government is sending our Congressmen during the heated term. Tour A—The Senate Committee on Hors-d’ceuvres, with their wives and children and school-friends of their children who are visiting them for the holidays, will go to Europe, Asia and the pleasanter parts of Africa investigating the different as- sortments. of Hors-d’ceuvres fur- nished by the various restaurants, preparatory to installing an Hors- d’ceuvre feature on the menu of the Senate restaurant in Washington. The Government will not furnish cigars for school-friends of Sena- tors’ children. Tour B.—Members of the House Committee on Filtration Problems, together with their families and Ideal Tax Tours domestic staffs, will spend three months at Bar Harbor, Magnolia, and Nantucket, investigating the quality of the sand in those places with special reference to its possible use in Government filter-beds. Mem- bers will please bring their own bath- ing suits. Tour C—A corps of Government automobiles will convey members of the Senate Committee on Highways and as many friends as they can crowd into the back seats across the continent on a tour of inspection of the nation’s roadways. Stops will be made as often as necessary at the best hotels en route and members of the party desiring to make side-trips to points of interest may do so by paying for their own guide-books. Tour D.—The House Committee on the Evasion of the Prohibition Amendment will go around from place to place throughout the sum- mer testing the force of the iiquor laws. There wiil be no definite route laid out but it is expected that con- siderable ground will be covered. ‘Wives of members will not accom- pany them. Tour E—The Senate Committee on Coast Fisheries will anchor off the Massachusetts coast at various points and get sunburned. Govern- ment tenders will lie alongside ready to take members ashore to send offi- cial telegrams reporting progress. The tax-payer will take his custom- ary two weeks fixing up the back- yard, Robert C. Benchley. Help! N Pennsylvania, Gov’nor Giff Is out for Prohibition stiff ; He's made the thing a cinch. Oh, Won’t kind Heaven send some plan To soften this remorseless man And take the pinch from Pinchot? comicbooks.com