Life, 1928-06-07 · page 11 of 54
Life — June 7, 1928 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
Will Rogers uses satire to mock both major political parties' platform promises. The main cartoon depicts a collapsing structure labeled "Political Planks," suggesting campaign promises are unstable. Rogers ridicules the Prohibition debate specifically, proposing absurdist alternatives: "Wine for the rich, beer for the poor, and moonshine liquor for the prohibitionist." He's satirizing how both parties would campaign on Prohibition despite widespread public support for alcohol. On Farm Relief, Rogers is even more scathing, claiming neither party will actually help farmers—they'll only offer vague promises. He writes sardonically: "I WILL CURE HIM. Who but a Farmer would ask for 'relief' for his troubles?" The bottom cartoon shows a farmer with a tractor, illustrating the agricultural focus. Rogers' point: political platforms are hollow promises disconnected from real solutions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
PROHIBITION AND FARM RELIEF Preliminary Planks in My Platform by Lam just a kinder laying low with my | platform, till I see what the Bunko-Boys offer you at Kansas City, and Houston, You get their offer and let me know, and I will do better. I can promise you more than they can for I will have the last promise. Whatever they offer you I will raise ‘em at least 20%. And I can come just as near keeping my promise as they can. No matter what's on our Platform, on November the fifth we will have a bon- fire and burn the Platform. We are not going to kid people that the platform has any permanent value, we are only drafting it for election purposes. If anyone has any suggestion to offer on ola for this temporary stage, wh' if his suggestion is backed up by enoug legitimate registered voters, why we will be glad to include his plank, provided always that the opposition to his plank can't muster as many votes as he can. In other words, bring on your planks, but let ‘em be carried in by voters. Now Prohibition, for instance (we will say “for instance” for that’s all it is— “For instance’). Now that will be the most talked of and the least “put into” FILLING STATION WILL ROGERS the platforms of any plank. Both Parties will go round it like an open manhole. The Republicans will try and get by on the old gag, “We are for law enforce- ment,” which means you are as neutral as Switzerland. Saying you are for “Law enforcement” don’t mean any more than an Aviators’ convention going on record as being in favor of “Tail winds.” Sure they're for ‘em, but try and get one. The Democrats will do something equally as humorous. They will nominate a wet President, on a dry Platform, and try and make a voter think he is voting for a “Dry” land, and a “Wet” ocean. Well, if Parties must compromise on the Prohibition question, why we will bow to public demand and do so. We want the wet vote, and we want the dry vote. We are honest about it, we are not kidding ourselves or anybody, so our Plank will run something about as follows: “WINE FOR THE RICH, BEER FOR THE POOR, AND MOON- SHINE LIQUOR FOR THE PRO- HIBITIONIST.” Now I can’t conceive of any Platform that could more thoroughly touch every class of thought than that one. We are appealing to the rich, the r, and to the “Better element,” now it there is any class of voter that we haven't touched in there, why we would like to hear from him. Tuts brings us to “Farm Relief.” Both Parties will spend pages of planks on promised “"Reliet Well I will not only give the farmer “relief BUT I WILL CURE HIM. Who but a Farmer would ask for “relief for his troubles? Everybody else would want “A Cure,” so while he dident know enough to ask comicbooks.com