Life, 1897-06-03 · page 1 of 20
Life — June 3, 1897 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "That Pension Baby" - Life Magazine, June 3, 1897 This satirical cartoon depicts a disheveled figure struggling to carry an enormous, crying baby labeled "That Pension Baby." The caption reads: "The darling itty precious is always hungry, 'is he is!'" The cartoon criticizes the U.S. pension system, likely referring to Civil War veterans' pensions that had become increasingly expensive and controversial by the 1890s. The "hungry" baby represents the insatiable financial demands of the pension program, portrayed as a burden on government resources. The exhausted caretaker symbolizes taxpayers or government officials struggling under this weight. This reflects genuine 1890s debate about pension costs ballooning beyond their original purpose, with critics viewing them as wasteful spending that drained federal budgets.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
VOLUME XxXIx. NEW YORK, JUNE 98, 1897. NUMBER 754. Entered at the New York Post Office as Second-Class Mail Matter, Copyright, 1857, by Mircurt. & MULLER. RICAN 5 2 “a SVM. THAT PENSION BABY. SME DAKLING ITTY PRECIOUS 15 ALWAYS HUNGRY, "ES HE ISL”