Life, 1902-09-11 · page 15 of 22
Life — September 11, 1902 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces mocking American capitalism and finance circa the early 1900s. **"Harold and His Pa"** is a comic dialogue where a boy repeats cynical definitions of financial terms learned from Uncle Jake on Wall Street. The satire targets robber-baron capitalism: a "trust" is a "hold-up," a "merger" is fraud, a "corner" is extortion, and Wall Street itself sits between Liberty and Congress—suggesting corruption pervades government. The joke is that the boy's crude, honest definitions actually describe how these financial instruments *really* operate, exposing the hypocrisy of respectable business. **"Recourse"** satirizes how the legal system enables crime. A highwayman consults a lawyer about his guilty conscience, and the lawyer's solution is simply to "incorporate under the laws of New Jersey"—implying that incorporation is merely legalized robbery. The cartoon suggests corporate structures allow wealthy criminals to escape moral and legal consequences through technicalities. Both pieces express Progressive-era skepticism about Wall Street finance and corporate law as instruments of exploitation rather than legitimate business.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Cupid; sev were! You ARREST ME POR NOT WEARING A BATHING SUIT AND ULL “QUEER" YOU WITH EVERY SERVANT GIRL ON THE BEACH. Harold and His Pa. “ PDAPA, you didn’t know I had been down to Wall Street, did you?” “Why, no. go with? “With Uncle Jake. And you have no idea how much I learned. Uncle Jake told me all about it.” “Did he? Well, what did you learn? What is a trust, for instance?" “A trust is a hold-up the many by the Whom did you What is a merger?” A merger is where you change water into rocks.” “My boy, your Uncle Jake has been giving you some valuable information. Now, what is a corner?” “4 corner is holding on to some- thing that belongs to your neighbor long enough to make him pay about four times what it is worth.” “‘And what is a deal?”’ “A deal is doing others according to law. ‘What is the difference between a trust and a syndicate?" “Generally speaking, if you ere a syndicate you rob only in one State, but if a trust you rob everywhere.” “« What is prosperity?” “Te's a time when the necessaries of life are all going up, and salaries are standing very still.”” “ What is a ticker ?"’ “An instrament to torture lambs with.” ‘And where is Wall Street located?” “ Oh, it’s a half-way station between the Statue of Liberty and the House of Representatives. Papa,am I a bright boy?” “ Phenomenaily so, my son.” Recourse. I N this quandary, the highwayman bethonght himself to consult a lawyer. “Good sir,” said he, “on the one hand, my conscience will not permit me longer to do that which is unlaw- ful ; while on the other, it is not prac- ticable for a man at my age to change his employment.”* “ Incorporate under the laws of New Jersey,” quoth the lawyer, readily enough, for it chanced that he was learned in the law. comicbooks.com