Life — January 9, 1931 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis **"Just A Word With You, Sir"** (top cartoon): A man asks his employer for a private conversation. He mentions being a long-time, faithful employee but now faces financial hardship—he has a father needing shoes and a wife demanding the best of everything. He's asking for a raise or loan. The boss dismisses him with "But, Jim, everybody said to buy now!"—satirizing how wealthy employers deflect workers' genuine hardship by repeating popular economic catchphrases about consumer spending, rather than addressing wage stagnation. **"Bought & Sold" (left cartoon): A businessman stands amid books labeled "Old America," suggesting he's literally buying and selling the nation's values and heritage, depicted as commodities. This critiques wealthy industrialists' perceived corruption of American ideals through monopolistic practices. **"Sympathy" (poem, right)**: Complements the cartoons, expressing exhaustion with hearing others' troubles while having one's own burdens.