Life, 1928-10-12 · page 21 of 44
Life — October 12, 1928 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Main Cartoon:** This satirical cartoon depicts Will Rogers (labeled at top) as a caricatured figure demonstrating "red hot baloney" to three men below. The imagery mocks political hot air and empty rhetoric, with Rogers appearing as a charlatan showman literally selling nonsense. The "balloon" imagery suggests inflated claims. **The Surrounding Text:** The page's editorial content by Elmer Davis criticizes modern intrusions on privacy—particularly searchlights, aircraft noise, and radio advertisements that penetrate homes indiscriminately. It laments that unlike movies or traffic, citizens cannot escape aerial advertising. **The "Life Lines" Section:** These brief satirical items mock: - Secretary Kellogg (Briand-Kellogg Pact negotiator) via ironic praise - An Ohio newspaper's innocent report about schoolgirls that reads suggestively - H.L. Mencken and Baltimore politics - The Republican Party's emptiness **Overall Context:** This 1920s Life page combines visual and textual satire on political phoniness, technological intrusion, and journalistic absurdity—typical of the magazine's sophisticated humor targeting educated urban readers skeptical of politicians and advertisers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
per- nil- coe eau will be outraged by some voice from the sky, proclaiming through the amplifier, between squawks of the saxophone, the merits of this or that cigarette. These particular afflictions, as yet, are visited mostly on the inhabitants of large cities; but they are not the only ones who suffer from one of the indirect conse- quences of the Wright brothers’ great, and perhaps regrettable, invention. Every airport now has searchlights that sweep the sky as beacons to guide the night fly- er: and every city of any pretensions must have them, too, since even if the aviator does not want to stop, that particular searchlight will remind him of the ex- istence of that particular city. An excellent idea, for people who want to look at saarchlights; not so praiseworthy, if your taste prefers the stars. This is only beginning now; but it threatens to become one of the most in- tolerable of the burdens of civilization, because it is the most inescapable. You can stay away from the movies; you can evade the afflictions of motor traffic by living on a side road; you may even avoid the sort of stuff that too often comes over the radio by the simple expedient of not buying a receiving set, and selecting neighbors who are not addicted to the loud speaker (though that is not so sim- ple, any more). But against a sight or a sound that comes at you from the sky you have no protection: your privacy is at the mercy of any advertiser who appropriates for his private profit this channel of ac- cess that is, unfortunately, open to all. Years ago Mr. Kipling, in “With the Night Mail,” forecast a time when the sky would be so thick with airplanes that people who wanted privacy would have to grow artificial jungles around and over their houses; but not even a home-grown jungle would shut out the amplified voice from the air. But objection to this is perhaps only a cry in the wilderness. If this nation had any general desire for privacy there would be more walled gardens, and fewer pub- licity experts. me Elmer Davis. —Life Lines— Now that the Anti-War Pact has been successfully negotiated the Government should show its appreciation by naming a battleship for Secretary Kellogg. “A. business meeting was held in which the members decided to give a play in the near future. Later the older girls took off their slips and played ball on the front lawn,”’ —Logan (Ohio) Republican. Wet, after all, it’s the National Game. aL Because of protests from the City of Baltimore, the Federal Government has ordered the removal of dangerous ex- plosives. We wonder where Mr. Mencken will make his residence in the future. aL Tue Bunkcess Party may be at a loss about what to do with all the bunk removed from politics. Of course, there is always the Grand Canyon. tL Accorpinc to Republicans, it’s all Hoover but the shouting. comicbooks.com