Life, 1925-04-23 · page 9 of 37
Life — April 23, 1925 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page announces the winner of Life's "Question Contest" asking readers to identify the worst city in the United States. The winner, Justus A. Grimshaw of Detroit, receives $50 for listing Detroit's problems: fires, slums, traffic congestion, architectural eyesores, and moral failings. The cartoon below depicts a Fourth Vice-President meeting a Salesman, with dialogue suggesting bureaucratic indifference ("I'm sorry, but you can't see the President. Salesman: in conference? No—indifference"). This satirizes corporate leadership's detachment from employees' concerns. The "Honorable Mentions" section on the right includes sardonic jabs at Chicago's crime and corruption, suggesting widespread public cynicism about major American cities' governance and conditions during this period.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
* LIFE LiFE’s Question Contest Announcing the Winning Answer to Question Number Nine: “What Is the Worst City in the United States?” For the following answer: Windsor Ferry. Rotten transportation. Dope-fiends. Eddie Guest. Library. Negroes. Jews. Panhandlers, Father Temple. Reckless drivers. Reverend Stidger. salesmen. Vulgarity. DETROIT. McClorey. 7 the actual number of nominations for the title, “The Worst City in the United States,” New York leads by an helming’ majority, and following the order named, are Chicago, Los yeles (including Hollywood), Wash- gton, Philadelphia, Herrin, Boston, D. troit, Pittsburgh and St. Louis—with a large scattering vote for other com- Fourth Vice-President: Salesman: 1N The “Art” Museum. Monroe Avenue. A daily Hearst eructation. Paucity of Public Spirit. Tue Prize oF $50.00 1s AWARDED TO: Justus A. Grimshaw 400 Penobscot Building, Detroit, Michigan. LIVVERS. Noise. Smoke. Slums, Traffic congestion. Belle Isle. The Architectural monstrosities. Poolrooms. The (Did Cass Gilbert really create that?) Henry Ford. Klansmen. Woodward Avenue, Bandits. Gunmen. Blind-pigs. pent-house on the new Public Streetwalkers. Automobiles. new Masonic Noisome gases. Real estate Lewdness. Mammon, Beggars. Speeders. The The new-rich. Greed. Rudeness. The “Free” Press. munities, from Weiser, Idaho, to Port Henry, N. In addition to the winning answer and those Honorably Mentioned, a special award goes to Cort W. Sayres, 312 Nevada Ave., Detroit, Mich., who addressed an envelope to Lire, “The Worst City in the U.S.” (The letter was delivered.) "M SORRY, BUT YOU CAN'T SEE THE PRESIDENT. CONFERENCE? “NO—INDIFFERENCE.” SPRING ON THE AVENUE Honorable Mentions ITH most of its newspapers and all of its bootleggers, theatres and jazz- artists working hard to make vice splen- did for hordes of flippant flappers and callow patent-leather-haired youths, and while thugs and hold-up men get away with murder, and five million of “The Pee-Pul” hang onto straps—well, I crown New York and, if I could, I say it in Yiddish so that I would really be understood. Helen Adele Hiller, Teachers College Country Club, Ossining, N. Y. would HICAGO welcomes you! Chicago, the painted ship upon a painted lake, wants you, if you wish to become a dissatisfied sardine. Chicago, one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel, invites you to attend her “murder-a-day” ceremonies. Chicayo, city of sin, smell and smoke, the only metropolis in the world whose citizens applaud when thugs steal your shirt off your back. Chicago, where you have 123 chances of being killed as compared with 1 in (Continued on page 29) comicbooks.com