Life — September 23, 1926 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Wasted Effort" and "Modern Ballads" - Life Magazine Page This page satirizes bureaucratic inefficiency and social pretension. **"Wasted Effort"** (left column) mocks a municipal conference about laying new asphalt pavement. Three company presidents argue endlessly over who should get the contract, their disagreement preventing any actual work. The cartoon illustrates how corporate self-interest and procedural delays obstruct public projects—a common complaint about early 20th-century American infrastructure. **"Modern Ballads"** (right side) presents humorous pseudo-poems about drinking. "The Bootlegger's Song" and other verses catalog various alcoholic beverages (peach brandy, Bordeaux, Hennessy) with winking references to Prohibition-era smuggling and consumption. The humor depends on readers' familiarity with bootlegging during alcohol prohibition. Both sections use satire to critique waste and hypocrisy in American society.