Life — February 5, 1925 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "If the Silver Dollar Comes Back" This satirical comic strips shows the economic chaos anticipated if the U.S. silver dollar were reinstated as currency. The narrative follows a silver dollar's journey through working-class life: 1. **"Pay Day at the Mill"**: Workers receive silver dollars instead of paper wages, depicted with "Salary Pocket" overflowing with coins. 2. **Labor shortage**: A sign advertises "Cash Girls Wanted" at a department store, suggesting women would be needed to handle the heavy coin-based currency. 3. **Domestic chaos**: A mother drops her coin-laden purse; children lose money everywhere. 4. **Social breakdown**: The coin causes a "deuce[d] wild club" and a man "broke up the dollar limit game." The satire mocks the impracticality of returning to heavy metal currency for everyday transactions in modern commerce.