Life, 1886-03-25 · page 11 of 16
Life — March 25, 1886 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Metropolitan Lasso Co." — A Satirical Critique of Urban Social Problems This is a satirical advertisement for a fictional "lasso service" company, mocking both contemporary urban anxieties and racist attitudes of the era. The joke proposes using cowboys with lassos to solve metropolitan problems—from retrieving blown hats to capturing fleeing pickpockets and "mad dogs." The satire targets class and racial prejudices evident in several references: one service explicitly involves "lassoing" Black waiters to compel service, and another mocks intoxicated men being forcibly "lassoed" home through windows. The piece ridicules how American society treated various groups—immigrants, workers, and Black people—as problems to be physically controlled rather than respectfully served. The cartoons by Wallace Peck illustrate absurd scenarios: a waiter being lassoed, a drunk man hoisted through a window. By treating serious social issues (poverty, racism, alcoholism, public safety) as opportunities for comedic mechanical "solutions," the satire exposes how 19th-century America approached these problems: with mockery and coercion rather than systemic reform.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
NEW ENTERPRISES. The Metropolitan Lasso Co. “p N metropolitan life there are certain mis- haps, which come upon man so sud- denly that, for the moment, he is paralyzed ; and, by the time he regains his self-possession, the harm has been done past remedy. The Metropolitan Lasso Co. has secured a force of native lassoists (picked from Southern and Western ranches), who will be stationed at various parts of the city; and their duty will be to avert (at a moderate charge) the class of accidents referred to above. In the first place, all hats blown from the head to the ground, and thence to and along the gutter, at the rate of forty- five miles an hour, will be promptly captured by the swift and unerring lasso of one of our men, at the following rates: Derby. 8 cents. Straw . 1 cent, Opera (0 At the cry of “stop thief!” one of our men will promptly encircle the fleeing purloiner, at the following rates : Sneak thief... + tocents. | Umbrella thief « Ycent. Pocketbook thief 12/111 19“ Shoplifter..... 7 cents. Mad dogs will also be immediately attended to by our lassoists, at slightly increased rates, owing to the high price of a first-class cabin passage to Paris: Our schedule for this branch of work will be: + $18 00 Pog tr & Mastiff lic streets our men will be found an effective preventative ; and they will always be ready to lasso any style of conveyance, at the following tariff: Trotters $1 so | Runaways r5 Grocery and butcher, 25 | Dray (with Irish driver). By’ the foregoing it will be seen that we contract to stop such fleeting objects as can- not be arrested by po- licemen, yelling or other ordinary means; and those who have seen the effectiveness of the lasso in skilled hands will readily believe that we can accomplish our peculiar line of work. The lasso can also be THE WAITER, made a factor in metropolitan life in other ways than those already described. 179 Any one desiring prompt service in our public dining- #ooms, and unable to secure a waiter, can call in one of our men, who will prompt- ly capture any negro he may designate. = Car conductors, who often have a deep-seated — antip- athy to stopping for passengers, can, with one of our lassoists == on the rear platform, __ secure any or all fares along the+ route, without paus- ing in their five-cent career. Policemen who are never on the right FOR THE CAR CONDUCTOR. spot can be secured by simply starting one of our lassos on a tour around the back streets. On the Brooklyn bridge would-be sui- cides can be stopped mid-air. The charge for this service will depend on the avoir- dupois of the res- cued person. At the theatre an offensive actor can be promptly removed from the stage, at aed the request of any ‘THE OFFENSIVE ACTOR, one in the audience. Intoxicated men need not again fumble with a temper- ance key-hole. On nights of intended sprees they can station one of our men in the upper story, and on coming home will only be obliged to remain passive on the street below, while they are lassoed and afterwards drawn in through the upper window. We could go on enumer- ating modern instances where our lasso would be the right thing in the - right place, but modesty forbids further mention. Having amply proved ‘our utility, we pause ~ content. Our men, dressed in the Mexican costume and wearing ornamental license badges, will be picturesque objects on the public thoroughfares. Wallace Peck. AFTER THE SPREE.