Life, 1896-07-30 · page 12 of 18
Life — July 30, 1896 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Political Cartoon Analysis: Life Magazine, Page 86 This page satirizes New York City's infrastructure and immigration, using dark humor typical of early Life magazine. **Main Cartoon:** An elegantly dressed man and young boy stand on what appears to be the Brooklyn Bridge. The caption "A Poor Rule to Follow" presents a dialogue about losing marbles on Sundays—surface-level moralizing that ignores hypocrisy (the boy who won them isn't condemned). This likely critiques selective moral judgment. **Text Satire:** The article mocks NYC's chaotic transportation systems, particularly the Brooklyn Bridge and cable cars, describing them as bewildering and poorly maintained ("new ways every day," "cable's trolley isn't twisted"). **Immigration Theme:** The final section sarcastically welcomes immigrants via the Statue of Liberty and Atlantic passage, with biting irony about "no being too low or degraded to be excluded"—reflecting period anti-immigrant sentiment masked as hospitality. The reference to "Gowanus Canal" (notoriously polluted) reinforces the condescension. Overall, the page blends infrastructure incompetence with xenophobic commentary typical of early 20th-century American satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
86 wanted an easy method of escape. No visit to this city is com- plete without a walk tothe bridge, the best time being about 6 o'clock in the evening, when the entrance is comparatively deserted. To reach the Cham- ber of Horrors and the Shower Baths, enter directly from Park Row after first securing gossam- ers, goloshes, candles and acci- dent insurance. It may not be apparent, but there is a way through the Chamber of Hor- rors and the Shower Bathstothe promenade. Somewhere up above the Chamber of Horrors and the Shower Baths is the platform where the cars arrive and depart —when the cable's trolley isn’t twisted. Lire cannot undertake to tell how to reach the cars because there are new ways every day. Before endeavoring to find STATUE OF LIBERTY. A POOR RULE TO FOLLOW. “So YOU'VE LOST ALL YOUR MARBLES, EH 2 WELL, IT SERVES YOU RIGHT. Boys ALWAYS LOSE WHO PLAY ON SUNDAYS.” “BUT HOW ABOUT THE OTHER FELLER WHO WON ALL MY MARBLES?” them, however, it is well to invest in an alpenstock. Many people think Brooklyn is ‘the jumping-off place.” This is an error. The jumping-off place is near the Gotham side of the Bridge. New York people get that far toward Brooklyn and then follow the trite adage—of two evils, choose the lesser. FROM THE OLD WORLD. A favorite way to get to the metropolis is via the Atlantic Ocean, many of our most respected and revered citizens having come by this route and settled permanently, rarely returning except for their relatives and friends, The Statue of Liberty, looking down from Bedloe’s Island on Williamsburg and the fragrant Gowanus Canal, offers a kindly welcome to all, and no being is too low or degraded to be excluded.