Life — November 3, 1927 — page 21: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a satirical cartoon about Prohibition-era Chicago crime. A Chicago police officer stops a car driven by a gangster and asks what he's carrying. The gangster replies it's "nothin' but booze," and the cop jokes he thought it "might be history books"—sarcastically suggesting the gangster should be carrying educational material instead. The cartoon mocks the widespread corruption of Chicago police during Prohibition (1920-1933). It implies cops were so accustomed to gangsters openly transporting illegal alcohol that the officer treats it as routine, almost humorous. The joke criticizes law enforcement's failure to enforce Prohibition laws, suggesting police were either complicit or so overwhelmed by bootlegging that they'd stopped taking it seriously. The bare trees and fortress-like tower suggest a bleak urban landscape dominated by organized crime.