Life — February 25, 1926 — page 17: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This political cartoon satirizes industrial inefficiency during what appears to be the early 20th century. The scene depicts a hellish factory setting where demonic figures oversee chaotic operations. The caption reads: "'Tain't sharp enough, Bill; I've got to use it on one of them efficiency experts." The satire targets the "efficiency expert" movement—consultants who were hired to streamline industrial operations. The cartoon suggests these experts were themselves ineffectual or problematic, depicted as so dull they require sharpening. The infernal imagery implies that factories and industrial labor were already hellish environments, and adding efficiency consultants only made matters worse. The cartoon mocks both industrial management practices and the contemporary obsession with workplace "efficiency" through mock-scientific methods.