Life, 1924-02-21 · page 22 of 36
Life — February 21, 1924 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces of satire: **Top Cartoon**: A domestic humor joke about fashion. A husband criticizes his wife's revealing dress, noting it exposes her back "clear down to your waist." Her witty response—"that's where my back stops"—deflates his complaint through logical literalism, a common comedic structure of the era. **"Official Figures" Essay**: Sharp political satire by J. Milnor Dorey attacking government statistics and bureaucratic pronouncements. The piece mocks how official data from Congress, issued to "contradict the unofficial mind," carry false authority through dollar signs and zeros despite being unreliable. It satirizes how newspapers and government bodies depend on these figures for credibility, even when the underlying reality is unclear. **"Rus in Urbe"**: A humorous essay observing that New Yorkers' "home life" consists entirely of institutional moments—hospitals, churches, hotels, theaters—except for one daily act: returning home to collect mail. The fortune-hunter dialogue adds conventional romantic comedy. All three pieces target contemporary American social pretension and bureaucratic absurdity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Husband THAT DRESS SHOWS YOUK BACK CLEAR DOWN TO YOUR Wife: Wein, THAT'S WHERE MY BACK STOPS. Official Figures FFICIAL Figures are the most ponderous entities of the Government. They issue from the Capitol every day to contradict the unofficial mind. But they return every so often to change their face value Official Figures bulk large. The larger they are the more zeros they possess. But no one thinks of that, because of the dollar sign which invests them. If it were not for the dollar sign they would have no being Official es are correct—correct to the dot. We can count on their being exactly what they are despite the efforts of the Woolen Trust to make them seem otherwise. Clothed as they are with majesty and power, they neverthe- less look blank unless one knows what is behind their exterior. Official Figures are the presiding geniuses of meetings. They are most at home when the budget is made up. They do not lisp in numbers; they speak right out. Then they rush to print they must assert loudly They cannot lie quietly We could not do without Official Figures. us the blessings of a Protective Tariff They prove to Without them the newspapers would lack eye-arresting headlines; the Sen- ate would languish for want of argument, and the Congres- sional Record would suspend publication. J. Milnor Dorey. Rus in Urbe [= ridiculous to say that New Yorkers have no home life. It’s true that the ew Yorker is born in a hospital, plays on the streets, gets married in a church, has his wed- ding breakfast in a Fifth Avenue hotel, takes his relaxati in the movie theatres and at the six-day bicycle race, and is. finally, buried from a Broadway funeral church. But at the same time it must be remembered that thou- sands and thousands of New Yorkers go home every day to get their mail, SBE I have heard that you are a fortune hunter. He: Well, not exactly be glad to consider it but if you have one T should FUL PLAY DISCOVERS HIS NAME IN PRINT. THE AUTHOR OF A SUCCE comicbooks.com