Life, 1895-12-19 · page 3 of 18
Life — December 19, 1895 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Vacant Seat" - LIFE Magazine Satire This cartoon satirizes overcrowded public transportation, likely from the early 20th century. Two working-class men on a street corner spot an approaching streetcar with a rare empty seat—a precious commodity on crowded urban transit. They rush forward "with the common intention of securing it," but the fat man reaches it first and claims the seat. The accompanying dialogue mocks both the desperation for seating and class tensions: the thin man complains about passenger overcharging ("by the pound"), while the successful fat man smugly remarks that the company "ought to charge its passengers by the pound." The satire targets transit companies' greed and the indignity of crowded commuting conditions affecting ordinary workers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
NUMBER 677. CONSOLATION. She: POOR UNCLE! AND TO BE EATEN BY UNDISCOVERED SAVA “YES, BUT HE GAVE THEM THEIR FIRST TASTE OF RELIGION.” THE VACANT SEAT. I" is a cold December evening. The leafless trees throw a net-work of shadows on the walk. Leaden clouds are scudding over the sky and a myriad of tiny snowflakes float waveringly on the frigid atmosphere and then fall un- heeded upon the shoulders of the two men who have been standing on the curb for the past quarter of an hour, waiting for an uptown car. The vari-colored lights of the approaching car at length ap- pear in the distance, and, as the car itself ultimately slackens speed at the crossing, the two shivering figures on the corner simultancously observing that it contains but a single vacant seat, hasten forward with the common intention of securing it. The fat man with the florid face reaches it first, and drops heavily into it with a grunt of mingled triumph and satis- faction, The thin man grabs viciously for a strap and remains standing in front of his more fortunate fellow-passenger. ing his eyes savagely upon the placid countenance be- neath him, he remarks, in a voice husky with emotion, “Huh, this company ought to charge its passengers by the pound!" Settling back more comfortably in his seat, the fat man observes, with an unruffled visage, and in tones quite audible to the eagerly waiting passengers, ‘“‘ Humph! if they did, they would never stop to pick you up.” comicbooks.com