Life — February 26, 1903 — page 13: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This illustration depicts a futuristic spacecraft landing on a celestial body, with figures in period dress exploring the alien landscape. The visible text references "a planet of our own some day" and mentions being "owned by the trust now," suggesting **anti-monopoly satire**. The cartoon likely critiques **industrial trusts**—massive corporate monopolies that dominated early 20th-century America. The joke appears to be that even if humanity colonizes other planets, the same corrupt trusts will follow and own those worlds too. The elaborate spacecraft and alien setting contrast darkly with the mundane reality of corporate control persisting everywhere. This reflects contemporaneous Progressive Era concerns about unchecked corporate power extending beyond earthly bounds.