Life, 1904-11-24 · page 15 of 22
Life — November 24, 1904 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes American attitudes toward "Culture" and wealth. The main text argues that Americans prioritize making money over cultivating refined tastes, then awkwardly attempt to appear cultured only after accumulating wealth—visiting European art galleries, attending readings, and acquiring luxury trappings like opera boxes and racing horses. The satire suggests this approach is backwards and hollow. The author proposes a tongue-in-cheek solution: young men should become millionaires by age twenty-one, then use their wealth to genuinely pursue culture. The top illustration shows a car crash victim ("Mr. S. Park Plug, the well-known autoist"), darkly humorizing the era's automobile danger. The shield emblem labeled "E Pluribus Unum" (appearing to be a pun or parody) and the angry face captioned "Head of the War Department" appear to be separate satirical cartoons about American institutions, though their specific references remain unclear without additional context.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
eA) evy iinet 8 at “MR. S. PARK PLUG, THE WELL-KNOWN AUTOIST, IS NOW RESTING ON HIS LAURE! Culture. HE question that resolves itself before the American people of to-day is: How can we become truly cultured, without losing money by the process? The best method isto be on the safe side and make money enough first. There are, of course, difficulties in the way. Some men do not make money enough before they are fift It then behooves them to take a certain amount of pleasure ; after which Culture can hardly be decently squeezed in during the short time that is left. The spectacle of decrepit millionaires elbowing their way into European art galleries, or sitting up. straight at authors’ readings, or struggling with the best things in history carefully arranged by a corps of able editors for busy readers, is extremely unedify- ing. Yet with money back of us, we ought to be reasonably unsatisfied ; we ought to make a decent bluff at Culture before the last call for breakfast. There is only one way out of the dilemma: We must get together enough cash to make a respectable conflagration carlier in the day. ‘The time is coming when every able- bodied citizen should make a million or so before he is twenty-one. And then, with hot and cold water in every room, with a full complement of automobiles, with enough wines to make a decent showing, with a box at the opera, and a racing-stud to be slightly nervous about, Culture can be wooed, and, say, half-way won. THE HEAD OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT.