Life, 1905-06-29 · page 19 of 29
Life — June 29, 1905 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a political parody of the national anthem, satirizing corporate monopolies and corrupt government. The revised lyrics replace patriotic references with cynical ones: "the land of the Trust and the home of the Boss" replaces "land of the free." The satire targets **Standard Oil** (mentioned explicitly), the **Beef Trust** (meatpacking monopoly), and railroad monopolies. References to "McClure" and "Tom Lawson" suggest these were contemporary reformers or muckraking journalists trying to expose corporate abuses. The poem mocks how corporate power has replaced democratic ideals—the "Commerce Commission" is portrayed as powerless, and competition is "washed out." This reflects the **Progressive Era's anti-trust sentiment** (early 1900s), when Life magazine frequently criticized Gilded Age monopolies. The American eagle emblem holding a dollar sign reinforces that capital, not patriotism, now rules the nation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Star-Spangled Banner. Revisep Versio. H, say, can you see, by the dawn's surly What so proudly we nailed at the twilight’s last gleaming ? Whose broad stripes and gray walls are these now in our sight ? ‘Tis the Pen of the State—can it be we're a-dreaming ? Yet McClure’sangry glare and Tom Lawson's hot-air Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there! ‘Tis the Star-spangled Banner! oh, long may it toss O'er the land of the Trust and the home of the Boss ! On the side dimly seen thro’ the mist of the Law, Where reform’s little host in pained silences reposes, What is that which the wind, seeking out every flaw, As it fitfully blows, half-conceals, half-discloses ? (Hark the jaw-music, too, and the atmosphere’s blue ; As for Kansas and Texas, this day shall they rue!) ‘Tis the Star-spangled Banner f oh, long may it toss O'er the land of the Trust and the home of the Boss ! And where is the crowd” who so vauntingly swore, By the power of the Press and the Commerce Commission A voice in the Combine they'd leave us no more ? Their blood hath washed out all their vain competition No wagon can go till the Standard says so; In the grip of the Beef Trust the packers lie low, And the Star-spangled Banner in glory doth toss O'er the land of the Trust and the home of the Ross, Oh, thus be it ever, when fool men shall stand Between our loved price and our own inclination ! Blest with viet'ry and peace, may the heaven-rescued land ‘Thank herself that we' e allegation ! Then conquer we must, since our prices can bus And this be our motto—* In God is our Trus And the Star-spangled Banner in triumph shall toss O'er the land of the Trust and the home of the Boss ! John W. Brotherton. <dto such v Method. “T STUDY and study,” said the baby in the pink per- ambulator, when the nurses’ backs were turned, ‘and the more I study, the l I understand this baby talk. I begin to think I'm stupid.”" “Not at all, old man,” said the baby in the brown per- ambulator, with the green shade. ‘You simply go the wrong way about it. You should begin with English. After you understand English, baby talk is comparatively y y ical constructions are very similar in both languages, and many of the words are strikingly alike in their root formations.” RAHI! RAH!! RAHI! Hes VES, OUR PAMILY DATRS BACK TO THE NOKSIANS. NTS FOR SoMETINNG, IT WON'T COUNT FOR MUCH WITH PA BLUE BLOOD MRS A HARVARD AIAN," Sursum Corda ! HE Euclid Avenue Baptist Church, in Cleveland (im- properly called St. John’s, for the reason that, although Mr. John D. Rockefeller worships there, Baptists do not believe in naming their churches after their saints), is to be rebuilt in the form of a sky-scraper, if the plans of the pastor go through. Owing to a large use of soft coal, the heavens hang rather lower over Cleveland than they hung over ancient Babel. Furthermore, there is less danger of a confusion of tongues where money does the bulk of the ing. With these favorable physical circumstances ting the spiritual uplift which proceeds from every well-endowed pulpit, mansions in the skies should emerge somewhat from the region of metaphor, if, indeed, they do not take on such form of reality as shall forever confound the skeptic and silence the scoffer. Out. * water wagon! AT: O'i thought McCarty was on t Mike: He was, but he went on a strike yesterday out av sympathy wid himself. comicbooks.com