Life, 1904-07-28 · page 8 of 20
Life — July 28, 1904 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features "The Adirondack Sportsman," a satirical story about a wealthy businessman who arrives at a private camp via automobile and demands access to hunt. The illustrated figure shows a portly, well-dressed man carrying a rifle—a caricature of the nouveau riche businessman stereotype. The satire mocks capitalist excess: the man's entitlement, his casual approach to hunting (wanting imported game conveniently provided), and the obsequiousness of camp staff accommodating his demands. The conversation reveals the character's disconnect from actual outdoor skill—he expects animals "within half a mile" and killed bears to be hand-delivered. The page also shows redacted LIFE editorial content that passed Russian censorship, highlighting Cold War-era press suppression.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Tehesaues AN EDITORIAL PAGE AS IT ENTERED RUSSIA, Miss ttt ‘Aun wot ts ine woe hai AS IT CAME OUT. A friend who lives in Russia has been good enough to send us a copy of Lire after it passed through the hands of the censor, Two of its pages we present herewith, The Adirondack Sportsman. H® came in a private car. He dismounted at his private station, He fol- lowed his private roadway in an automobile. He entered his private, four- story, one -hun- dred-thousand- dollar camp at the private door. He recuperated from his private camp chest, and then the game- keeper came in to report the chances of killing game. “The imported moose are in splendid condition," hesaid, ‘*ex- cept one bull, You can shoot him, He has been sick a long time, and it would do no damage to killhim. The imported elk have not been within half a mile of the stand in two weeks. If you will walk’a hun- dred yards from—" “Out of the question !"" exclaimed the sportsman, ““Well—er—we have two bears chained in the back end of the lawn. ‘They are very young—quite harmless. It is possible to shoot them from the observatory."”” “Ah! Good! It will be well to tell my friends I shoot bears from my camp. Couldn't you bring them closer?" “Yes, and in the deer park we have a hundred of the animals scattered over five acres, You could—er—have one of the men kill one from your auto- mobile—" “Certainly—have it done !"" “Fishing in the private hatchery is satisfying. The trout weigh three pounds apiece and upwards, as I have found by dipping them up carefully witha landing net, They are confined, each one, in a trough four feet long and two wide. There will be no difficulty in fastening them securely to your flies, and then- dropping them into the main pond for you to catch.” ‘Good! I need to tell some fishing stories. Send some of the largest fish to the taxidermist's immediately.” “Yessir. To-morrow, if you wish, we will go out and sce the imported boars—they are in pens, I will see that one is speared and the tushes pre- pared—' “Oh, well, go ahead and do it ; hand me that Wall Street Review, and, secretary, have the telegraph operator bring me the report of that last trespass. case. I don't see why people select my comicbooks.com