Life — June 28, 1928 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Crow Cuss" - Life Magazine Satire This is a humorous essay-cartoon hybrid mocking crows as agricultural pests. The piece catalogs the crow's negative qualities: intelligence without morality ("foxy brains and hollow rummy"), destructive habits (eating crops, unplugging planted fields), and shameless behavior (eating ten times their weight daily, cursing at farmers). The satire targets both the bird itself and the helplessness of farmers and civic organizations against them. References to "women's clubs' protesting voices" suggest animal-welfare advocates of the era who opposed shooting crows, creating conflict between pest control and emerging conservation sentiment. The cartoons humorously personify crows—showing them operating businesses, advertising, and generally thriving despite human attempts at control. The joke: crows are unstoppable, amoral pests that outwit farmers systematically.