Life — May 19, 1887 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Our Aristocracy" - Life Magazine, May 10, 1887 This satirical cartoon critiques the pretensions of America's newly wealthy merchant class. The scene depicts a fashionable family in their drawing room, with a man proudly displaying a cityscape model, likely representing his commercial real estate holdings or business empire. The caption's dialogue mocks their social climbing: Mrs. Van Hattan objects to tradespeople entering everywhere, claiming that without commerce, they'd never have reached Manhattan's elite status. Mrs. K. responds sarcastically, suggesting these "people in trade" are the actual foundation of their wealth—that feeding pigs (literal farm work) would be more honest than their pretentious drawing-room posturing. The satire targets Gilded Age hypocrisy: newly rich industrialists and merchants who disdained "trade" while their fortunes depended entirely upon it.