Life, 1925-01-22 · page 15 of 36
Life — January 22, 1925 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the "bushelman," a term for a tailor's assistant or low-paid garment worker. The article humorously catalogs the bushelman's precarious existence: working without steady employment, earning minimal pay, and living hand-to-mouth. The top cartoon shows two well-dressed people dining while discussing the bushelman's psychology—suggesting dismissive attitudes toward working-class struggles. The bottom cartoon depicts a doctor's office where a figure instructs someone to "get busy on this doc," illustrating the bushelman's constant need to take whatever work appears, no matter the conditions. The satire targets both the exploitative nature of piecework labor and the dismissive attitudes of employers toward struggling workers. It's social commentary on economic precarity and class indifference in early 20th-century America.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“AND so—! What Is a Bushelman? \WVHEN, about once in every so often, I am filled with a discon- 1 that is anything but divine and | start scanning the “Help Wanted” amns, I am impressed with the rently insatiable demand for helmen. Invariably this — “Bushel- at once, come ready to work, isant conditions, extra scale pay 1 bonus.” | wonder why, when I was picking, Pewtae THING, DEARIE!” or rather, drifting into careers, no one advised me to become a bushelman. I wonder what is a bushelman anyway. Fancy the merry bushelman. On Friday afternoon he may, if he chooses, take exception to the necktie his fore- man is wearing and demand his pay. Saturday becomes an added half-holi- day and Sunday morning he has but to sit down with a toothpick and the Sun- day paper and choose among the em- 7 erreacteo| HE DOESN'T COME TO SEE YOU NO MORE! IT's THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE ployers. Monday he is blithely bushel- ing in a new bushelhaus. What possibilities of frequent and refreshing change. If ever I have a son (I'll bet bushelmen rear big fami- lies; God knows when I'll be able to afford one), I'll put him wise to this busheling business. As soon as he is old enough to sit upright on my knee without the aid of both my hands I shall wag my finger under his nose while I impress him with the desirability of be- coming a bushelman. Later, at the age of five, when he is asked the question that flunks most boys of twenty-one nowadays, “What are you going to be when you grow up, my little man?” the reply will be automatic: “I'm going to be a bushelman.” Say, what does a bushelman do any- way? F. J. Champion. Without Anesthetic BORED VICTIM (listening to oper- ation experience): This hurts me more than it did you. WO and two make four, except when one is figuring out an income “IP THAT SIGN MEANS ANYTHING, DOC, GET BUSY ON THIS DOG.” tax return. comicbooks.com