Life — October 16, 1931 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Explanation for Modern Readers The cartoon depicts two men in fedoras showing a third figure "a little machine, kid, that can do the work o' forty men"—likely representing labor-saving machinery or automation. The surrounding text satirizes various contemporary issues: **racketeers** organizing New York wine-brick dealers to join the Plasterers Union; college football's brutality compared to baseball; the **American Federation of Labor's** opposition to prohibition modification, fearing job losses; and workplace sobriety claims by the W.C.T.U. (Women's Christian Temperance Union). The cartoon's dark humor suggests labor displacement anxiety—machines replacing workers—while the surrounding commentary mocks union protectionism and temperance advocacy as self-serving interests masquerading as worker protection or moral reform.