Life, 1924-06-19 · page 28 of 40
Life — June 19, 1924 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct satirical pieces from *Life* magazine (likely 1920s-era, during Prohibition). **"Southern Politics"** (poem with illustration): A humorous lament about Prohibition's effects on the American South. The piece mocks how Southern society—traditionally associated with whiskey, juleps, and casual drinking culture—has been forced "dry" by Prohibition laws. References to "Milwaukee famous" (brewing beer), Kentucky stills, and mint juleps emphasize how deeply alcohol was embedded in Southern identity and hospitality. The repeated refrain "By Gawd, Sir's dry" captures the resigned frustration. **"The Common People"** (satirical commentary): This mocks the disconnect between editorial moralizing in newspapers and average Americans' actual lives. The editors preach about virtuous citizenship, yet the piece sarcastically suggests ordinary people earning modest incomes ($1,763 annually) somehow manage to own cars, support large families, hunt bootleggers, worry about international reparations and philosophical movements (Fundamentalism, La Follette's politics), and maintain savings accounts—an obviously absurd portrait highlighting editorial hypocrisy about who "the common people" supposedly are.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
26 - LIFE - Southern Politics AY the jest about the julep in the camphor balls at last For the miracle has happened and the olden days are past; That Tennessee, which made Milwaukee famous does not foam in And the lid on old Missouri is as tight-locked as can be; For the eggnog now is ne less and the rye has gone awry nd the punch bowl holds carnations and the South, “By Gawd, Si dry.” By the still-side on the hill For the ouly damp refreshm rill. Nth Cli And discusses local o| For the mint bed hangeth high And the cocktail glass is dusty and the South, “By Gawd, Sir’s dry.” in Kentucky all is still t must be dipped up from the a's stately ruler gives his “C ass a shove m with the South C’lina Gov., cs oa orkscrew pasture and the All the nighteaps now have tassels a head, Not the nightcaps that were taken when nobody went to bed, When the Colonel and the Jedge Met to have a little nip to give © worn upon the Major and the Gen'l and the wir appetites an edge Now cach can walk a chalk line when the stars are in the sky For the fizz glass now is fizzless and the South, “By Gawd, Sir's ¢ Though she still has pretty women and her horses still are fast, Old Kentucky's Now the parti speak well, y isa memory of th past aight goods” and the “Rectified” For what's the use of scrapping with business gone to h——? In those lovely tasseled cornfields all the crows are living high, Each ‘sa graveyard, for the South, , Sir’s dry.” We M. “A LOT OF WATER? HUH, YOU THERE 1S UNDERNEATH.” LET CAN ONLY SEE THE TOP OF IT—THINK HOW MUCH Yes. THE FUNNIEST JOKE OF THE YEAR He: bo you MIND IF 1 SMOKE? The Common People (As They Must Be if Everything in the Editorials 1s True) HEY have incomes of $1,763.28 annually, are parents of five children each, and spend their spare moments hunt- ing bootleggers, looking at moving pictures, listening to the radio, hoping for pure government and worrying over the Mellon plan They all struck by | drive automobiles and are continually d trains at g y have all been married and divorced several times being ade crossings. Th | and lie awake at night worrying about Fundamentalism and Bob La Follette The people t in the editorials all belong to church, Sunday school, Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, a labor union you read abou and a grange, and are all Their table talk is rates, reparations, ¢m- college graduates about railroad ployment and improving the civil service management, city planning They have cach $293 in the savings bank and are cager buyers of tax-free securities. Their greatest anxiety in life is the delay in the arrival of uni- versal peace UGH WALPOLE all the women to Iceland for two months ar once s. end American men will read.” They'll read the dispatches from Iceland. comicbooks.com