Life, 1901-01-24 · page 3 of 20
Life — January 24, 1901 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Commercial Period" - Life Magazine Satire The main cartoon depicts a scene of commercial ruthlessness during what the caption calls "The Commercial Period." A well-dressed businessman strikes down a fallen figure (likely representing a small business or worker) with a club, while another couple observes in the background. The caption's quoted dialogue—"At least give a word of sympathy to the victim" / "Not much! Why, John is one of my best customers"—exposes the hypocrisy of gilded-age capitalism: even as someone is being destroyed economically, social pleasantries mask indifference to their suffering. This satirizes late 19th-century American business practices, where ruthless competition and consolidation were normalized among the wealthy, who maintained polite social facades while enabling economic devastation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE COMMERCIAL PERIOD. “aT LEAST GIVE A WORD OF SYMPATHY To THE VICTIM.” Ballade. TO THIS YEAR'S BUDS. With Acknowledgments to Villon & Swinburne TT ELL me, I pray, in what countree Is Minnie, our Egyptian dame? And Berthe and lovely Leonie, Jennie and Bessie, who could claim A beauty that's beyond our aim, On floor or links, to-day, 1 fear? Alas! Are they themselves to blame? Where are the buds of yester-year ? Where is the learned Amélie, Who loved her beauty less than fame? Or Consuelo, fair and free ; Mabel and Mary? What became Of Isabel? All! All the same! All fled away, and left us here! All in pursuit of higher game! Where are the buds of yester-year? And tell me where the Muses be? Of old New York—créme de la créme; That in the M. A. M. we see— Each hanging, in a dusty frame ! The Bouncers, too, that none could tame, But laughed at Mrs. Grundy’s sneer ! Gone! Whata pity! What ashame! Where are the buds of yester-year? ENVOI. Sweet roses! Sweet by any name ; ‘That first with this year’s snows appear, Just smile, if some old fool exclaim, Where are the buds of yester-year? Henry G. Chapman, |? all the correspondents who favor this paper with their sentiments on various subjects will sign their names to their letters, their com- munications will be even more valued than at present. Whatever their senti- ments may be, they run no risk in signing them, for the privacy of such letters is always respected. OT MUCH! WHY, JOUN I4 ONE OF MY MEST CUSTOMERS. w,7 AFTER STEALING A KISS IN THE DARK. “ DID You THINK IT WAS A GHlosTY” “NO, IT SMACKED TOO MUCH OP REALITY.” comicbooks.com