Life, 1925-07-23 · page 6 of 36
Life — July 23, 1925 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical strip tracks an unnamed optimist's increasingly absurd pronouncements across 55 years (1870-1925). Each panel shows him making rosily confident predictions that historical events would prove wrong: - 1880: Claims the South will prosper - 1896: Dismisses economic panic as temporary - 1900: Predicts Spanish-American War will boost markets - 1908-1920: Makes claims about German military capability, League of Nations success, and post-WWI recovery The joke is that this character consistently misreads major political and economic crises as manageable or beneficial. By 1925, he's aged dramatically (depicted with long beard), suggesting decades of proven-wrong optimism. The satire mocks blind faith in positive outcomes despite mounting historical evidence to the contrary—a common target of *Life* magazine's editorial humor about American politics and business.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SINESS 18 BAD JUST NOW, BUT WAIT TILL THE SOUTH ‘CETS SETTLED, THEN WE'LL SEE A Bi PROSPERITY BOOM." “Now THAT SCATTER-DRA\ WE CAN wit “Now THAT WE WAVE CARFIELD IN THE WHITE HOUSE YoR FOUR YEARS, PROSPERITY 18 JUST AROUND THE CORNER.” GERMANS. JUST A PHASE. “THIS PANIC IN WALL STREET IS MCKINLEY ELECTED, BUSINESS 13 SURE TO BOOM.” VELL, THE SPANISIC WAR srt US RACK A LITTLE, BUT JUST WATCH THE MARKET CO UP FRoM Now on.” WR CRT CAN'T E WINTER, Boys OUT oF S BY CHRISTMAS, Tat LEAGUE OF NA> NONSENSE 18 OVER, WILL GET US BACK TO NORMALCY AND START A DIG BOOM,” “THR PEOPLE ARR JATZ-CRAZY NOW; BUT THAT'S ONLY A FREAD NOVELTY, PROSPERITY LIES JUST AROUND THE CORNER.” MAROING THE BIOGRAPHY OF AN OPTIMIST Knowledge Is Power T last I had completed my reading course in Mental Stimulants—Ten Minutes a Day and the World Is Your Prey. Many times I had seemed to detect a tender glance in Margucrite’s eye, but I preferred to wait until the time The makes me f “The moor how you feel. moon,” said Joe Glamm, looking at Marguerite, I retorted coldly, “has nothing to do with It is probably your digestion. I should was ripe and I could feel assured she would be mine. Joe Glamm, the big duffer, was with her when I arrived that evening. Just as I entered, I overheard him mention the moon and saw him look in a silly wa out the window. It was a night of low barometric pressure, I recall. “The moon,” I hastened to inform them, “completes her circuit around the earth in a mean, or average, time of 27 days, 7 hours, 43.2 minutes. Her mean distance from the earth is 238,857 miles.” “The moon is beautiful,” said Joe Glamm. “It is, on the contrary, a lifeless satel- lite and devoid of atmosphere,” I cor- rected him. “The moon's surface is nearly four times the size of Europe.” GO-GETTERS ARE PORN, NOT MADE. recommend a diet of soy beans,” “Go away,” Margucrite told me. There is no reasoning with women—their aver- age brain weight is considerably below that of men (49 ounces), so I left. The other day I learned that Margue- rite had married Joe Glamm and was suing him for divorce. She asked for fifteen hundred a week alimony and twenty-five thousand dollars in counsel fees. I feel that I owe it all to Mental Stimulants—Ten Minutes a Day and the World Is Your Prey. Knowledge is power. Tip Bliss. Phenomenon AUGHINGLY, he paid the dentist's bill, For the effects of the gas had not worn off. comicbooks.com