Life, 1887-08-11 · page 12 of 16
Life — August 11, 1887 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Lost Cores" - Life Magazine Satire This page combines four sequential cartoon panels (depicting a cart losing its load) with satirical "Financial Items" and reader correspondence mocking contemporary politics and literature. **The cartoons** appear to illustrate financial or political losses—likely referencing government mismanagement or corruption, though specifics aren't explicit. **The satire targets:** - **Government incompetence**: Italian loan negotiations, Senate wealth, Congressional barber taxes - **Wall Street corruption**: A millionaire's loss equals another's gain—suggesting rigged markets - **Literary realism**: A correspondent sarcastically asks how author W.D. Howells' character creates "white rings of ironical deprecation" around her eyes—mocking overwrought, implausible realistic fiction - **Political figures**: "Boulanger" (likely French General Boulanger) criticized for political theatrics disguised as legislative action The humor relies on readers recognizing current events, literary controversies, and political figures of the era. The "lost cores" title suggests both literal cart contents and figurative loss of political/moral substance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: THE LOST CORES. FINANCIAL ITEMS. HE. Italian Government is endeavoring to negotiate a loan of 9,000,000 lires, and has sent to a prominent newspaper in this city for estimates, * H ER MAJESTY believes in a tariff for revenue only. . . ONGRESS is considering the advisability of imposing a pole-tax on barbers. * YOUNG millionaire lost a hundred thousand dol- lars in Wall Street yesterday, and by a curious coincidence another young millionaire won the same amount. are now quoted at $20,000 and trial Two years ago they could be had for ALDERM expenses. $10,000, so that those who have been Aldermen for the past year and a half are netting quite a nice profit. . . > HE United States Senate is said to be the richest corporation in the world. No one knows the amount of its dividends, but they are said to be fabulous. J.D. S:—Close corporations are not necessarily + mean corporations, but it frequently happens that they are so. . . . “OH, SLEEP, TO POLL.” GENTLE THING, BELOVED FROM POLL “ REALISM.’ CORRESPONDENT writes us as follows : Sir: In reading Mr. W. D, Howell's story now running in Harper's Monthly, 1 found the following sentence referring to the manner of a young lady in taking a gentleman's arm at an evening party: *She did it with a cold, bright smile, making white rings of ironical deprecation around the pupils of her eyes.” Will you kindly give me the receipt which she used for making white rings of ironical deprecation around the pupils of her eyes ? We really do not know how she did it, but she got there just the same. ARLIAMENTARY language is so shock- ingly bad that it is no longer used in polite society. E do not wish to commit ourselves, but we really believe that the engine of an ocean steamship is the best screw-driver we ever saw. OULANGER is not particularly fond of the present ministry, and what billing and cooing they may do together will doubt- less take the shape of a parliamentary bill and a coup d'état. IT IS A comicbooks.com