Life — July 24, 1931 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Do You Know What Causes Motor Buses?" — Life Magazine Satire This is a humorous satirical article using evolutionary theory as social commentary. The piece uses a fanciful origin story: motor buses allegedly descended from prehistoric creatures (diplodocuses, glyptodons, dragons) through evolutionary processes. The satire appears to mock the growing prevalence of motor buses in early 20th-century urban life—their size, power, and dangerous behavior toward pedestrians and smaller vehicles. By playfully attributing them to evolutionary descent from extinct monsters, the author satirizes how these new machines have become part of the urban landscape, viewing them as modern "beasts of burden" that are "fearless" and dangerous. The cartoon shows pedestrians and smaller vehicles encountering these large buses, capturing public anxiety about motorized transportation's rapid expansion.