Life, 1900-11-22 · page 3 of 20
Life — November 22, 1900 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Too Much Talk" - Life Magazine Satire This page satirizes a University of Chicago president (likely Harper, mentioned in text) for making controversial public statements. The cartoon criticizes him for speaking carelessly about sensitive topics—including comparing American rebels to Revolutionary ancestors and making offensive comments about professors' use of slang. The main illustration depicts "At the Court of the War God," showing what appears to be military or formal proceedings with figures seated along a decorated wall, likely commentary on institutional authority and hierarchical judgment. The satire's point: academic leaders should exercise restraint in public speech, as their inflammatory remarks damage their institution's reputation. The text ironically notes he's "quoted as having spoken in meeting" and suggests his words reveal poor judgment unfit for university leadership.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AT THE COURT OF THE WAR GOD. CONGRATULATIONS POR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE IN TIE PIMILIPTINES. Too Much Talk. (THE papers tell us that Dr. Harper, of the Chicago University, does not take kindly to the eccentric opinions which havo lately made some of his professors somewhat notorions. He is quoted as having spoken in meeting—a_ faculty meeting —and_ alluded tosome of the views his aids had disseminated as ‘ pyrotech- nical, irrational and sensational.’ There is a Chicago professor who lately declared in Boston that riots in America to-day were the natural fruits of rebellious tendencies inherited from our Revolutionary ancestors. Another Chicago professor lately argued that John D. Rockefeller was a greater man than William Shakespeare. Another has attracted notice by his profuse use of slang in his class-room. Presi- dent Harper does not care for the ad- vertising these gentlemen bring to his institution. He has been quoted as saying to them: ‘Instructors are employed in this University to teach, and comparisons of men of literary fame to those of commercial note and contemporary existence are odious to the latter and are to be avoided.” IS IMPERIAL NIBS: Run the fire under that new arrival up about ninety thousand degrees. Imp: Yes, sire. You must want to give him a warm reception. “Well, Lam anxious to disabuse his mind of any lingering idea that the fifty thonsand dollars he gave to charity out of his fifty millions cuts any ice here.”