Life, 1904-11-03 · page 11 of 40
Life — November 3, 1904 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Illustration:** An allegorical figure representing "Life" sits amid scattered papers and books, overlooking a cityscape. The artwork illustrates the magazine's motto: "While We Live Let Us Live." **Main Article: "Americanus Automobilis"** This satirical piece mocks American car culture and reckless driving habits. The text ridicules the American tendency toward speed and excess—comparing the automobile driver's behavior to intoxication and madness. It critiques wealthy Americans who drive dangerously despite having means for safety, suggesting their vehicles are monuments to their own poor judgment rather than accomplishment. The article uses colorful language about the driver being "instantly made drunken" by his machine, implying automobiles encourage destructive impulses. **"November" illustration** (bottom right): A seasonal vignette, likely decorative.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WHILE WE LIVE, LET US LIVE, Americanus Automobilis. HE automobile simply exhibits a new aspect of the characteristic American lack of poise, the tem- peramental defect of control. It is just as far out of thequestion for an American to go slow when he has the means to go fast, as it 1s for him to eat slow when he has two. good hands to convey food to his mouth, and plenty of drink of one kind or another to sweep it down his throat. Life is speed. The power of motion is what distinguishes the animal from the vegetable; the power of going hell-bent is what distinguishes man from other animals; and finally, the power of getting there is what distinguishes the American from other men. When the American mounts his red devil, and its fetid breath rises up around him, he is instantly made drunken. He yields himself to a delirious ecstasy of supreme hurry, It is not because he is cruel that he kills the chickens, dogs and people, but because he is frenzied, mad, a soul sup- planted by a fury. His own safety is nothing to him. More likely than not he will be gathered to his fathers in a cigar-box or a small market-basket, but what of that, if posterity has to write in his epitaph that his machine was as big and powerful as his purse could buy, and that he went the limit ?