Life, 1924-05-22 · page 12 of 36
Life — May 22, 1924 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece critiques congressional investigations during what appears to be the post-WWI era. The cartoons mock senators conducting inquiries into various matters—sugar prices, land frauds, and taxes—depicting them as ineffectual and long-winded. The captions identify specific senators: Lodge, Wheeler, Pepper, La Follette, and Hefflin. The text suggests these investigations were procedurally bungled, with conflicting testimony and poor record-keeping undermining credibility. The humor targets senatorial pomposity: investigations drag on interminably, witnesses contradict each other, and committees accomplish little despite grand rhetoric. The cartoons show senators gesticulating and pontificating while achieving minimal results. The article contrasts these failed inquiries with Congress's actual accomplishments—notably progress on the World Court and agricultural relief—suggesting senators talk excessively while doing little substantive work.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SHING W TON, May 191 am, I like to think, of an un- commonly mild and forgiving nature. The hootblack who in spite of ex- plicit directions invariably bears ? down on the cw! SENATOR LODGE EXPLAINING OW EXTREMELY .SAPE THE WORLD Wak PLAN IS IN Its KEEPING. more sensitive parts of foot my has never thar re heard other the gentlest proach pass my lips Yet I confess that the disposition on the rt of the public to slightingly of the work of the present growing AND SENATOR VERSATILE THAT EITHER END OF speak press Congress fills me with a deep and burn ing indig Injustice I cannot tolerate, and that the attacks upon us ion. are unjust the following calm and un of achievements should. conclusively biased review our prove. In this brief surcey I shall not dwell upon our important work of investigation, which is unfor tunately. still little confusion, To ina provide room for the rapidly growing number of commit tecs we had to re- AND SENATOR LA FOLLETTE, JUST SITTING PRETTY. PB WHEELER, LIFE Looking Backwards sort to the expedient of letting two or three of them sit jointly. The was that records, witnesses and even th result Senators themselves became hopelessly My for example, spent two weeks grilling a witness confused. committee on sugar prices, before discovering that he was testifying about land frauds in Texas; and that, moreover, owing to \ mix-up in the records, we weren't the committee on sugar at all, but the com mittee on propaganda Leaving the investigations aside, | fel that one of our outstanding achieve ments has been our firm star the of thority. against encroachment executive We have met every message of the President asking us to speed up our work by vig orously do- ing nothing for weeks. wHo Is HE CAN HANDLE AN INDICTMENT. As reducing taxes, shall to mo: ment, we have never been in our labors for which I come to in a self-sparing in our great and good fight to. pre serve the integrity of the Senate. No record PLAINING SPEECH SENATOR PEPPER, EX~ of the past session would : be complete without men- tion of our stand on Japanese exclu- sion. The celerity with which we un- did years of patient work toward un and accord between two nations will make our action stand out among our other notable achievements. Outstanding, too, is our progress with the World Court, which derstanding nator Lodge. in more than one inspired address, has brilliantly characterized as being. still in committee. This brings us naturally to relief griculture, and here I believe is one of our most outstanding successes. We could have followed the path of ONLY SO FAR AS IT ISN'T Sounder Finds Nothing to Shudder At and done something, but we decided against that policy The soldier has heard us speak for him in the Bonus bill—he will continue to hear us speak in the fall campaign speeches. In fact, it is doubtful whether the supporters of this outstanding document will ever get least resistance through talking about it, in which it will rank I feel, this Congress comes to be written, with to reduce taxes will be found our gallant protest with tax reduction. »0, that when the history of side hy side our struggle against depriving the citizens of a free nation of the right to wring the Presi- dent's hand. We had to put aside im- portant work to make the fight, but we were not found wanting Thus I come at last to tax reduction, of which ortunately space prevents me from saying more, Since at this writing Congress has not found time, what with the pres surPof a busy session, to take final there really isn't much that I can I have heard, from action, say however, that I believe to liable, that leaders decide sources be re- unless the to take up the remaining weeks with reviewing the outstanding achievements of the past session, something may yet be done about it be- djourn, Sounder THAT MIS A KEYNOTE fore we AND SENATOR DAILY 6w ENGAGED IN SPEECHES. HEFLIN DOZEN HIS comicbooks.com