Life, 1905-01-05 · page 17 of 36
Life — January 5, 1905 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical narrative by Tom Masson featuring caricatures of early 20th-century wealthy industrialists. The cartoon depicts a woman character ("Cassie") shaving herself on Boston Common while dictating her story—a visual joke about her shameless self-promotion. The text references prominent figures: an unnamed steel magnate (likely satirizing someone like Andrew Carnegie or J.P. Morgan), Rockefeller, and **Thomas Lawson**, a real Boston financier and muckraker known for exposing financial manipulation. The satire mocks: - **Stock market manipulation**: advice to "sell short" and use margin trading - **Wealthy industrialists' arrogance**: the magnate's casual consolidation of "all the steel plants" - **Celebrity self-promotion**: Lawson's willingness to stage a public stunt for publicity The humor targets gilded-age financial schemes and the era's scandal-mongering celebrity culture, where even shameful behavior could be monetized through publicity and endorsements.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“ Shaving himself on Boston Common.” and was keeping the Pope in the anteroom cool- ing his heels. “Well,” he said, “I perceive you are a woman, I love the sex. What can I do for you?” “I want five millions.” He drew near confidentially, “ he said, “that’s easy. I've just con- solidated all the steel plants in the world. I'm do- ing it. Everybody will know it soon. All you have to do is to—” “I know, I know,” I shouted triumphantly. “Buy steel.” He caught me sternly by the hand—then winked the other eye. “Not on your life,” he whispered. “Sell it short.” “But T can’t do that without something to put up as margin,” I complained, “and I’ve just called on Rockefeller and Rogers.” “Poor woman!” he exclaimed. “Here. take -a hundred, and go on and see Lawson.” The next day I was in Boston. I found Tommy shaving himself on the Boston Common, dictating the story of his shame to Everybody's. “Mr, Lawson,” I said, “will vou go on the stage “When?” “Oh, when we have advertise: “Sure! What are you going to do “I’m going to demonstrate that it’s easy to bor- row money from any one, if you know how.” “What have you got?” T showed him Andy's picture—with the endorse- ment on the back. “Cassie,” he said, “go out and do your stunt. Come back in six months, and we'll take the country by storm.” Thereupon I made my famous trip out West. The rest is History. Tom Masson. comicbooks.com