Life, 1896-08-20 · page 9 of 20
Life — August 20, 1896 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 137 Analysis This page is primarily **text commentary** rather than a cartoon. The main image shows the Life Building in New York photographed from the river. The text discusses the **World newspaper's circulation and influence**, comparing it favorably to other New York papers like the Herald and Sun. It mentions that Mr. Bennett (likely the newspaper's owner) is learning English to improve the publication's language quality. There's a brief editorial note titled "A Commendable Idea" proposing that American literati be exhibited separately at Paris's World's Fair, allowing them to work without distraction—a mild satirical jab at the exhibition concept and American cultural representation abroad. The page lacks significant political satire; it's primarily a **house advertisement and editorial commentary** on contemporary journalism and cultural matters.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE LIFE BUILDING, AS SEEN which has rarely been equaled, although some of the men he employs do almost as well as the master hand. At this time the circulation of the Wor/d was only 100 copies an hour, but since then it has increased to 8,000,000 a minute, according to sworn affidavits taken directly from the returns. There are other newspapers in New York, but none that compares with the World, although the Journal, owned by Hearst, is entitled to some rank. The Sun, edited by a man named Dana, has done more for good government than perhaps any other organ, having aided greatly in Cleveland's election, and succeeded in keeping David B. Hill out of New York politics. It is rumored that Mr. Dana will soon retire from the Sun, and the Rev. Dr. Charles Parkhurst will take his place. The Sun's motto is: ‘‘When you see it in the Suv it isn’t so.” With the exception of the Wor/d, the Herald is the only paper in New York that is edited bya foreigner. It is said, however, that Mr. Bennett, who is anxious to improve the tone of his paper, is learning to read and write the Eng- lish language, so that in the course of a few years he may be able to dispense with the services of an interpreter. The Herald has a fine structure on Broadway, just under the shadow of the northwest wing of the LIFE building. It is built in the old Haarlem renaissance style 137 of architecture, of Philadelphia pressed brick and mucilage, with scented soap that had previously been exposed to the editorial page for hours to harden it. In front is a fine bulletin board on which Mr, Bennett's pulse and temperature are record- ed every hour, together with a statement of FROM THE RIVER, NEW YORK. his mental condition, and other facts of mere minor importance, One of the features of the structure inside is the grand staircase, lined on either side with marble busts of the men who have once been city editors. The reception room is just over this, leading into the various operating rooms, and just beyond are the wards, splendidly ventilated and giving the patients the best of light. Down stairs, in the basement, are the press rooms where every morning the last sad rites are performed on the daily editions. A COMMENDABLE IDEA. T the coming World's Fair in Paris it is proposed to place the literati on exhibition in separate cages, each doing as nearly as possible what he would do at home while pursuing his profes- sional labors. They will be expected to manifest no outward sign that they are being looked at, and to go on with their work during exhibition hours as diligently as if they were in their own libraries or garrets.—New York Tribune, Lire trusts that this plan may include an exhibit by the United States. If some of our prominent literati can be confined in cages in a foreign country, we shall not be inclined to cavil, even if the show of which they are a feature be extended indefinitely beyond the proposed time limit. comicbooks.com