Life, 1905-08-10 · page 17 of 26
Life — August 10, 1905 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the commodification of women and marriage in early 20th-century America by presenting them as a stock market or livestock auction. The upper cartoon depicts children playing baseball ("our national game"), establishing the innocent baseline. The lower section, titled "Fortuna Automobilia," treats women as tradeable goods with market prices and demand fluctuations. Women are categorized by type (chorus girls, widows, brunettes, peaches, etc.) with clinical assessments of supply, demand, and delivery conditions—exactly as one would discuss agricultural or industrial commodities. The satire critiques how marriage and women's value were treated as economic transactions. "Husbands" and "Children" are similarly commodified, extending the joke to show the absurdity of reducing human relationships to pure financial calculation. The automobile imagery suggests modernity colliding with outdated attitudes about women as property to be bought and sold.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
scarcer every day, with a prospect of in the market in the near fu- ive, sales into the millions, the pro- fessional clement predominating, there being no present prospect of public get- ting in. There has been a wide slump ians continue a running + in dummy directors, several of them being in hands of receiver. Bank pres- idents are off, with small prospect of recovery Young Short-ha irls continue to be active. dare not in demand, ‘There is a good supply of blondes, custom and OUR NATIONAL GAME IX 2005 A.D. hand made, but the demand is very lively, and prices keep up to level. Sou- brettes are casy, Widows are lookin Chorus girls on call. up, but no marked change from last fi in New he corner England old maids, all varie has been broken, and a large sized October brunettes in good demand, delivery in September. Society slump is expected. sagging specimens sought after, the buyers bei from the other side. We: continue lively, with specialties are only being ig mostly ern peaches a prospect of a seventeen - year - old FORTUNA AUTOMOBILIA. shortage market in near future Husbands are very active in spi tense heat, and for city delivery there is a good market, midnight varieties pr dominating. Children are lively everywhere, and he market shows signs of increasing strength, though the hotel species not up to the mark. leading. attracting ingsd Country bred easily nme suburban varieties are ention and futures are be- jealt iy ¢ largely, mostly on with stop orders. Large reported in undressed kids losses comicbooks.com