Life — September 27, 1929 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Impressions of Magazine Offices This satirical cartoon depicts the editorial hierarchy and workflows of magazine publishing offices during the World War I era. The upper tier shows specialized editors at their desks: an "Awol Editor," "Souvenir Editor," "Mademoiselle and Armetieres Editor," and "Joke Editor." Below them are lower-ranking editors handling war-related content ("French War Orphans Editor," "Who Won the War Editor," "Battle of Paris Editor"). The bottom half shows soldiers as raw material being processed through this system—they're being funneled, sorted, and distributed like commodities to feed the magazine's war-focused content. The satire mocks how American magazines exploited soldiers' experiences and war narratives for commercial purposes, treating human suffering as editorial inventory rather than genuine news.