Life — July 11, 1930 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "The Palatable Highways of California" This page contains a satirical letter from Peter Q. Wimple, Commissioner of Highways in Ventura, California, responding to a complaint from Mrs. J.O. Salisbury about her son Gregory eating tar from street repairs. The satire mocks bureaucratic absurdity: Wimple solemnly argues that the boy's consumption of road tar is actually *beneficial*—providing "bone and muscle building foods like roast beef and spinach"—and suggests the real problem is insufficient milk and crackers in the child's diet. The accompanying illustration shows a woman presenting a boy with visible tar stains to a puzzled man, likely a doctor. The joke exposes how officials deflect legitimate public complaints through absurd logic rather than addressing actual infrastructure problems affecting residents.