Life, 1902-12-25 · page 39 of 77
Life — December 25, 1902 — page 39: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes early 20th-century attitudes toward women and commerce. A well-dressed couple appears to be in conversation—likely the husband and wife referenced in the caption. The joke critiques men's economic priorities: the husband claims men naturally worry more about valuable horses than wives because they're raised in a "commercial atmosphere" where they learn "the true value of things." The satire is sharp: by accepting this logic, he's essentially equating his wife's value to a commodity, and suggesting commercial training makes men better judges of *material* worth than of human relationships. The cartoon mocks both masculine materialism and the wife's resigned acceptance of this devaluation. It's social commentary on how industrial capitalism and business culture supposedly corrupted male priorities, reducing everything—including marriage—to economic calculation rather than emotional bonds.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
PATE LIFE eevee Shes Yes, 1 ACTUALLY MELIEVE THAT A MAN WILL WORRY MORE OVER A VALUABLE MORSE THAN HE WILL OVER HIS WIFE, “watt, MY DEAR, TOU SHOULDN'T CAVIL AT THAT. MOST MEN ARH RROUOMT UP IN & COMMERCIAL ATMOSPHERE, WHERE THEY ACQUIRE A REEN SENSE OF THE TRUE VALUE OF THINGS.” comicbooks.com