Life — November 24, 1927 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Polite Transportation" - Life Magazine Satire This page contains two distinct pieces. The top illustration is a suggestive cartoon captioned with a crude joke about tattoos and anatomy. The main story, "Polite Transportation," mocks a Chinese immigrant named Lung Foh Lung who arrives at Joshua Howell's (President of the Polite Transportation Motor Bus Company) office. The narrative satirizes both the immigrant's broken English and American economic pretension. Howell offers Lung money to design bus seats, calling this "polite" capitalism. The lower cartoon depicts their meeting, with a guest making a pun about "Navajo bugs" versus travel abroad—mocking both Native American terminology and immigrant unfamiliarity with American culture. The satire targets early 20th-century American attitudes: patronizing treatment of Asian immigrants, capitalist exploitation disguised as generosity, and casual ethnic humor.