Life, 1903-10-01 · page 22 of 36
Life — October 1, 1903 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top cartoon** ("International Football"): Shows a chaotic rugby match labeled "Pan-American versus Pan-European," depicting business competition between continents as violent sport. The "Pan-American" side appears to be winning or dominating. **Bottom story and cartoon** ("The High Shake"): This is dual-narrative satire targeting both monopolistic business trusts AND labor unions. Readers are instructed to delete either the upper or lower bracketed text depending on their political sympathies—Trust supporters or Labor champions would each see a different villain. The story shows a small honest merchant destroyed: Trust Magnates force him to pay more for less; Labor unions (if that version is read) similarly exploit him. Either way, the independent merchant dies. The accompanying cartoon shows two figures in a "high shake"—suggesting collusion between opposing forces. **The satire's point**: Both organized capital AND organized labor harm the ordinary working person caught between them, leaving no good outcome regardless of which side one favors.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
NTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL PAN-AMERICAN VERSUS PAN-EUROPEAN. Which? N B.—In reading the following bard luck story, if you are a Trust * Magnate, ellminate the upper lines in the brackets. If, however, you are a Champton of Labor, forget about the lower lines, If neither the one nor the other, read both versions, and then decide which makes the pleasanter reading. Several years ago, in the town of X, there lived a small merchant who, by dint of hard work and honest dealing, managed to earn a decent livelihood. But lately the town of X has been getting all the modern improvements, and among them came the [((3e,]- 4 Immidiately upon their arrival, the (37%) announced to the good merchant the following: * By virtue of an order of the great (J.,Pireety], you must now pay twice the [price ] i for half the amount of [£°%!*] you received formerly.” But 5 Hf . the merchant, who had a will of his own, said _ EH ig E hinged if I do,” to which the [Tr <a WS , S& (Tiises) replied { be hanged if you don’t.” 4 aap / | At \ \ coreg ) The merchant, however, found a [ [*® and [fa'tef] him, but within two weeks the [Trt] had [frozen out the deur.) and the poor merchant died ft starvation Ss By dynamite - BT. Hs THE HIGH SHAKE. “Au! THIS IS 4 PLEASURE, INDEED.” comicbooks.com