Life — July 26, 1928 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Blindfold Test for Campaign Cigars" This cartoon satirizes **campaign financing corruption** during an early 20th-century election. The caption claims "The Voter Can Pick Out the 'Old Hokum' Every Time"—but the image shows the opposite: a blindfolded man sits while well-dressed politicians hand him various cigars labeled with candidate names (visible: "SMITH," "ROGERS"). The joke is **ironic**: voters claim they can discern honest candidates from fraudulent ones, yet the cartoon suggests they cannot—they're literally blindfolded. The politicians surrounding him appear to be offering indistinguishable "campaign cigars" (likely representing campaign promises or bribes). The accompanying text criticizes candidates accepting money from the public while pursuing their own agenda, and urges readers to support the Anti-Bunk Party instead of traditional candidates.