Life, 1903-01-01 · page 15 of 20
Life — January 1, 1903 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts a wealthy couple in an intimate domestic scene. The accompanying dialogue mocks New York's transformed identity: its traditional symbols (the beaver and windmill, referencing colonial Dutch heritage) have been replaced by "a Jew, a cocktail, and a peroxide blonde against a field of gold"—satirizing the city's perceived shift toward Jewish immigration, Prohibition-era drinking culture, and commercialized beauty standards. The "Classes" essay below uses mock-serious sociology to skewer the middle class: they accumulate wealth only to produce foolish heirs who squander it, neglect civic duties (creating work for reformers), and their women are ashamed of their men—yet this shame supposedly elevates public taste. It's caustic social commentary. The final joke about J. Pierpont Morgan owning "the solar system" because he already "controls The Sun" is a pun on the newspaper, mocking the wealthy industrialist's perceived monopolistic power.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE* 15 to the times,” he said smilingly, encircling her with his arm. ‘Ihave even changed my coat of arms to one more appropriate.” “Tho beaver and the windmill?” she questioned. “The beaver and the windmill no longer,” he an- swered. ‘‘The arms of New York is now a Jew, a cocktail, and a peroxide blonde against a field of gold.’ Mrs. Wilson Woodrow, Classes. THE middle class are an ex- tremely important and useful class. They are often spoken of, not unjustly, as the great middle class. It is from the middle class that the indispensable upper class are recruited. For the middle class not only amass the money, but they beget the fools to part with the same, also. Art would doubtless fare but meagrely without the middle class. Tho lower class are too poor to patronize art much, and the upper class really have some judgment in those mat- ters. The middle class neglect their civic duties, and this makes business brisk for the reformers, many of the wor- thiest of whom would otherwise have to go to work. The women of the middle class are ashamed of their men-folks. Thus they contribute in no small measure to the creation of a correct popular taste. RIGGS: Well, the next thing J. Pierpont Morgan will own the solar system. Grices: Why, he already con- trols 7'he Sun. “om, Tes! JCS? ABOUT THE TIME WHEN I WAS ORTTING THAT RING.” OM, FLUTTERING URART, 817 STILL comicbooks.com