Life, 1926-02-25 · page 23 of 36
Life — February 25, 1926 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes American legal system absurdities through cynical definitions. The "Cynic's Guide" mocks judges as either failed lawyers or wealthy ones forced into service; juries as ordinary people unqualified to judge truth; courtrooms as places where newspapers mislead; and legal fees as extortion. The satire suggests trials are lengthy, incomprehensible exercises in obfuscation rather than justice-seeking. The cartoon below shows a woman visiting a man in jail, captioned "Information Wanted." She wants details about how her car was stolen—darkly humorous given she's visiting a bandit. The page also includes period advertisements (cafeterias, instant coffee, saxophone lessons) satirizing "Hasty America" and its quick-fix culture. The bottom joke about "flappers" being identified by milkmen references 1920s young women's social visibility and dating practices, joking about premarital relationships.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: 21 Cynic’s Guide to the Law TRIAL is the longest way to prove nothing Trial by Jury is based on the belief that a man who has never weighed the truth or falsity of anyth save when he was bi a fifty-cent piece to sce whether it was counterfeit, will suddenly, by the mere process of b iS me a Solomon, put in a box with eleven a Dic a Thomas Je A Judge is either a lawyer who could practicing law and so had to be mad her men, bee ferson rolled into one t make any a Judge to p has made so much rd to rest back and enes an his starving to death, or a lawyer wh money practicing law that he can 3 enjoy life putting obstacles in the way A Courtroom is a pla f other lawyers. gate who d ¢ where people c trust the newspapers to give them all the unsavory « A Trial L his client, but because he is a lawyer wl of heart and gooc zwyer is so called not because h jury al mother without breaki A Fee is the mor from having to pay m Pr is the belief tha in and pertaining to the ch King's forest in 1642 st garding the punch in the nose a P t his client's purit out laughing y a lawyer gets fc saving a client y he never owed. it a deci ; Lin wuld be a basis for gave a passenger on a train west of Chic ‘ , THE GENIUS WHO INVE FR TO SHAPE Higher Court or Court of Appegls or Court. . veeer This is a court to which the verdict of court is re appealed. It decides whether the trial Ju prejudi . , the defendant's case when he blew his nose during the Information Wanted defense attorney's address to the jury, or whether the use ARKSON: I'm goi the jail. 1 to talk of a comma instead of a semi after the word “it” in with the bandit who te car paragraph 387 shouldn't permit the defendant, who after al Parkson What's the use? only murdered thirteen peo} go free Lakksox: Maybe he'll tell me how he got fifty miles an A Brief is a writer Judges to confuse them ament lawyer sends the Appeal ur out of her. mut th Tt is never less than fifty thousand words long and is written with the aid of thesauri, rhyming dictionaries, ¢ word puzzle th s. time-tal maps, blueprints and alman has been unable to find this word ir se. Your correspondent any law dictic whom he has ry and every lawyer pproached has said he never heard of it Bertram Bloch America STY Pudding Cafeterias. Fifteen-Minutes-a-Day Culture Suits Pressed While You Wait Minute Tapioca Instant Coffee Quick Lunch. Learn the Saxophone in Six Lessons. HE flapper is known by the milkmen “po YOU BELIEVE IN PRE-NATAL INFLUENCE? she mects. “XO. 1 DON'T. PEOPLE SHOULD MARRY WITOM THEY PLEASE.” comicbooks.com