Life, 1905-09-07 · page 19 of 42
Life — September 7, 1905 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine consists of brief satirical commentary on contemporary events and figures, anchored by the title cartoon depicting Cupid blowing bubbles at a globe. **Key satire targets include:** - **Senator Platt**: Mocked for avoiding jail, implying corruption is expected of politicians - **Automobiles**: Criticized for dangerous drivers casting aspersions on the technology itself - **Surgeons**: Sarcastically suggested to operate on themselves to cure unnecessary procedures - **Japanese denials about Philippine Islands**: Treated as transparent lies - **President Baer (coal operator)**: Denied claiming divine right over coal properties; the satire suggests his "rehabilitation" is as absurd as Nero's **The recurring theme**: American institutions—political, medical, industrial—are corrupt or dishonest, their denials and reforms merely cosmetic. The "bubble world" title suggests these assurances are insubstantial, likely to burst. The cartoons and quips reflect *Life's* role as a satirical publication critiquing Gilded Age American power structures and their representatives.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
\ This HY does Senator Platt figure that his isa wasted life? He has kept out of jail. Chicago News, But Senator Platt is still young, Nobody regrets these unfortunate occurrences more than the great mass of sensible, careful automobilists, who feel the aspersion that is cast vpon a delightful and invaluable form of travel by the heedless conduct of a few reckless automobil- ists.— Boston Glo Aspersions have also been cast upon toy pistols, cholera and the hind legs of mules, whose enjoyment also de- pends on the point of view. A Chicago surgeon announces that he cures ne by operations on the skull.—San Francisco Why not operate on a few of the doctors themselves first, as an evidence of good faith? If a simple operation on the skull would cure some of our surgeons of doing any unnecessary operations, life might, after all, become worth living. A London newspaper the other day printed our Declaration of Independence.—Saltimere Herald, Well, what of it? It would be new toa great many on this side. Prosperity has its drawbacks. Kansas is wor- ried because its farmers are getting the gout.— Chicas That's nothing. Some of us in New York are beginning to worry for fear our leading church-members will get an overdose of prison pallor. Japanese public men continue to assert that they do not want the Phil Enoniver. ppine Islands.—Cincinnati ‘This looks suspicious, Net long ago we said the same thing. Bubble The Government is planning to advertise exten- sively for laborers in the Canal Zone.—New York Evening Post. In order to render them immune, we suggest that these laborers be com- pelled to ride up and down in the Subway, say six or eight hours a day, before going to Panama. John Phillippi, a horticulturist of Lodi, Cal., has perfected a new fruit from the peach and nec- tarine, The result is a firm, sweet white meat, with a palatable mixture of the flavors of the fr ich itisacross. Itiscalled the “ peach- » York Sun. is variety belongs to me family that blooms annually all along our coasts. One of the most curious and interesting under- has been completed in Denmark — the building of a vessel modeled upon the lines of "s ark, as described in Genesis. The vessel as built is thirty fect long, five feet wide, and three feet decp—these measurements being one- tenth of those given in the Bible, — Chicago Journal. We shall probably next hear of this vessel as having been added to the fleet of New York Harbor excursion boats. The King, whose tall white hat was the sensa- tion of last year, again wore similar head-gear with a grey frock coat and a tie of the royal racing colors. —London Daily Mail. The effect on consols was not appar- ent. The Paris Bourse, however, was plainly nervous, and a notable reaction followed in Wall Street. I wish I could agree with everybody. — Col. Henry Watterson in the Lowi Journal. ville Couriers This must mean that a large part of the world would have to be recon- structed ; for we cannot conceive of Colonel Watterson changing any of his picturesque opinions, World President Baer now denies that he ever said the coal operators controlled their properties by divine right. Only last week we saw a demonstration that Commodore Vanderbilt did not consign the public to perdition. The process of rehabilitation that began with Nero and Lucretia Borgia is ching up with the times —Vew York Evening vst, All that is needed now is to have Tom Lawson declare that he didn’t mean all he said about Rogers. The architects who desig New York's smart set never omit the closet fo skeletons. —/oustor: ( Tex.) Post. This shows the provincialism of our neighbor, who should know that among our best people the family skeleton is no longer kept in a closet, but on the roof, The London Times states that the trustees of the British Museum have expressed their willing- ness to rec carefully selected phonographic records of the voices of distinguished living men. ‘The records will be for posterity only, a no circumstances be available for cont use, Argonaut. Imagine posterity listening to two speeches of our Chauncey, one labeled “before and the other ‘‘after’’ taking ! ‘The latest method in hairdressing is to cut each hair separately, a process that takes much time.— Philadelphia Press, Not necessarily. Depends upon the person, If Germany pursues the course she has mapped out, who can tell how many other countries will also have retaliatory tariffs ?—oston Globe ‘The more, the merrier. A few solid blows in the solar plexus of our present tariff would do us heaps of good.