Life, 1928-12-07 · page 46 of 64
Life — December 7, 1928 — page 46: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical article mocks the outgoing Coolidge Administration as it approaches March 4, 1929 (Coolidge's final day in office). The piece uses dark humor to describe departing Cabinet members discovering they're losing their positions and perquisites—government limousines, deference, free postage, and prestige. Secretary of State Kellogg and others face dismissal, while Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, being wealthy and well-connected to Wall Street, will be "handled with gloves." The satire suggests these officials will find consolation in their diminished but still prestigious post-government status, remaining locally famous for decades through newspaper interviews. The reference to "the zwaarte Knecht" (likely a Dutch/Germanic folklore figure) mocking politicians reinforces the mockery. The article concludes by noting new faces will replace these departing officials in Washington and the Senate, with specific mention of some departing senators. It's political commentary on the impermanence of political power and officials' desperate clinging to prestige.
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... Ayer Itan... latex... Penang ... stretches of yellow sand and rocky boulders. ,. coves rimmed with cocoanut palms... and inland the ter- raced temple of Ayer Itan with pools of tortoise and goldfish ++.the Snake Temple... from the heights glimpse foaming cascades . . . flaming hibiscus bushes... great meadows and rubber plantations . . . and yonder, clad in crimson turban and loin cloth, a Tamil coolie pouring latex into pails... Just one of the places on the cruise Around the World on the Cunard Super Cruising Steamer Franconia from New York January 15th, next Never was there a voyage like this... the most complete world panorama ... includ- ing all the well-known places...aswellas lands not visited by any other cruise... supership with the cruising viewpoint built into her... two of the outstand- ing leaders in travel linking their 175 years of prestige, ex- perience and efficiency for this cruise. Literature and full particulars on application to your local agent or CUNARD LINE THOS. COOK & SON LIFE Christmas in Washington Tue nappy Christmas by season comes to Washington Henry _ this time not so happily, for Suydam numbers of gentlemen and their wives who have flown high, wide and handsome are sitting un- der their last official Christmas tree. The President and Mrs. Coolidge, according to all accounts, are glad that March 4 is approaching, with its sweet solace of re- tirement, but the rest of the Administra- tion, not to mention various defeated and disappointed members of Congress, are sad because the end is in sight. The zwaarte Knecht who always follows St. Nicholas in the Low Countries has brought bad presents to large numbers of statesmen, who open their boxes to find lemons, mittens and other insignia of the razz. . * . Tue Casinet, with one or two possible exceptions, is on its way out. Government limousines, gilt seals, the deference of Negro messengers, the ranking place at dinner, free postage and honorary de- grees—all the perquisites that go with $12,000 a year will be snatched from ‘fr. Kellogg, the two Davis fellows, John Gas:- baldi Sargent and, I expect, Curtis D. Wilbur. Mr. Mellon of Pittsburgh is very special and will be handled, if he is touched, with gloves, for he has a sensi- tive epidermis and a right powerful bel- low. As one of Mr. Hoover's few surviv- ing colleagues of the original superior minds selected at Marion, Ohio, in 1921, the sainted Andrew has the sanction ot tradition, the adoration of Wall Street and the prestige of private wealth almost equal to the repudiated Confederate debt. Ture is some consolation, however, for those who are departing; for a Cabinet post confers an enduring if diminishing distinction, and the home-town news- papers for the next decade will print in- terviews with Mr. New on what he thinks of the engagement of the Prince of Wales, and with one or the other Mr. Davis on his opinion of the sale of the Russian crown jewels, and with Mr. Jardine on the new Egyptian Government. And Mr. Kellogg, five years from now, will be pointing out in the St. Paul Pioneer-Press that it is not intervention in Honduras, but just an act of good-will to help out in an election. . ° . Art Christmas, 1929, there will be a row of new, shining faces around Washing- ton's Christmas tree, and some of the new ones will gleam in the United States Sen- ate. The well-tailored and sociable Peter Goelet Gerry of Rhode Island will be missing. The angular and primitive Ed- wards of New Jersey will have returned to the North German Lloyd bank of the Hudson, The-Eighteenth Century gentle- OR him—for her—for Aunt Kate and the children—that gift for everyone on your list is at your Rex- comicbooks.com