Life, 1904-09-01 · page 37 of 38
Life — September 1, 1904 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising**, with one satirical story. The advertisements promote period products: Whiting paper, Goerz camera lenses, Cadillac automobiles, and Swiss chocolates. The satirical content is a short dialect story mocking African Americans. It describes an elderly Black man seeking a marriage license, where the town clerk mistakenly records the wrong woman's name. The man's response uses a racial slur and reduces women to commercial commodities, treating the mix-up as merely a financial inconvenience ("ain't three dollars difference in value between those two wenches"). The humor relies on racist stereotypes: exaggerated dialect, portrayal of Black people as stupid and morally base, and the framing device ("the unblushing son of Ham") invoking biblical curse mythology used to justify racism. For modern readers: this reflects early 1900s casual racism in mainstream American media, where such content appeared alongside ordinary advertising without apparent controversy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
: Look for * the Watermark hat it is Whiting on all your office nery. ‘The name ts the sign of paper bod as It can be made—a guarantee of sorertor quality and of satisfying adapta- buity to every business purpose. WHITING papers are perfect In texture and to writ. {hz surface. None are cheap, but many are Inexpensive and all are economical inction that they give to nee. APER COMPANY, Prrcapecenta, HoLrowe "99% of Camera Value is in the lens." ‘There isn’t a photographic dealer in the country who can tell the quality or value of a lens by look- ing at it. He can tell you this, though—Goerz lenses are the standard for the world, and, after all, as the lens is the only part of the camera that makes the picture, your only safeguard is the repu- tation of the manufacturer. Sample photograph sent on request, Cc. P. GOERZ, Main Offices, Lerlin-Friedenaw, Germany, Rranch Offiers, 4 and & Holborn Cireus, London, England, 22 Rue de UEntrepot, Paris, CATALOGUE FI Room 53, 52 E. Union Square, New York Cit South, not so long ago, je of an old darky verg- gon cighty years of age, who was looking ard this for a wife, and who was somewhat noto- his flirtations among the dark sex. He finally placed his affections on a colored Sauty named Mary Jane, and he dispatched aa to the shire town to obtain a mar The messenger failed to ob- rous fi fage license. the name of the preferred damsel, but he ad seen the old man very much in the com pany of Almiry Johnsing, and he had her cognomen inserted in the official paper. When he returned, the amorous candidate for matri monial honors discovered that a mistake had been made, and he indignantly shouted : “Why, I ain't a-goin’ to marry Almiry, I want Mary Jane Simpkins for my wife, so Ask about the Goerz. | Reliable as the United States Mai you'll have to go back an’ get dat license changed, you stupid nigger.” “Can't do dat, unless you give me anudder three dollars for a new one,” was the response. “If it's goin’ to cost all dat, I'l marry Al- miry shure. There ain't three dollars differ: ence in value between those two wenches,” said the unblushing son of Ham.—Boston Bud- get Model B, 1904, Complete, $900. Without Tonneau, $500. A man drove a Cadillac up the steps of the Cap- itol at Washington. He paid for his fun, but it was worth the money to know the power of the Cadillac. Write for tllastrated booklet R whieh tells about the Cadillac and gives address of a bearby agency whereit may be seenand tried, Cadillac Avtomobdile Co, Detrott, Mich. Memter Amociatioa of Licessed Automobile Manofrs, g TAE SEATED TAT hay S Baked in old fashioned ovens Heated with wood fires—only the best flour and purest water used—the Brownsville Water Cracker is in a class by itself. None other half as good Ask your grocer HATLAND & Towser PRESS OF THE J. W. PRATT CO., NEW TORK, We want to send you enough Cailler’s Cenuine Swiss Milk, Chocolate to make you ‘‘remember the taste’’ next time you are chocolate-hungry. Don’t send any money—just your name on a post-card, and you'll receive Fonerous samples, both of the eating and of the drinking choco- late. We'll leave the rest to you. Address to-day, J. H. FREYMANN General Agent for the United States 861 Broadway, New York comicbooks.com