Life, 1906-03-15 · page 9 of 38
Life — March 15, 1906 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Main Cartoon (top):** The image shows an interior domestic scene with figures around a fireplace. The caption reads: "Life (the Magazines): Why shouldn't you smoke, my dears? There is a precedent which perhaps you have forgotten. Girls, your grandmother!" This is satirizing *Life* magazine's editorial stance on smoking by women—presenting it as old-fashioned moralizing. The joke suggests *Life* is lecturing readers about propriety while invoking outdated grandmother-like concerns. **The Articles Below:** These discuss practical postal/magazine distribution complaints and question whether *Life* magazine's light verse is superior to competitors' work. They appear to be editorial commentary on magazine industry issues and *Life's* own literary merit. The page critiques both *Life's* moralistic editorial voice and debates its cultural significance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life (the Magician): WHY SMOULON'T YOU SMOKE, MY DEARS? THERE {5 A PRECEDENT wrucHt GIRLS, YOUR GRANDMOTHER ! You MAVE FORGOTTEN. A Reminder. of Grafters all remind us What a snap it is to be Rorn without a sense of honor, Morals or plain decency. Are the Magazines Worth Hauling ? ORD comes from Wash- ington that the Post Office Department is grieved at the cost of carrying the magazines and weekly papers, and wants to charge them higher rates for postage. They now pay the newspaper rate of one cent a pound, but the Department complains that they travel much farther than newspapers ; so far, indeed, that the cost of moving some of them through the mails is greater than their whole cost of publication. The Department sadly observes that the magazines are bigger than they used to be, and that there a more of them, and that their birth-rate greatly exceeds their death-rate. This isa pretty grievous complaint, but any time the Government gets tired of handling the ten-cent magazines, the magazines will be found ready to take charge of the Government. They feel fully competent to undertake the job, and, indeed, would probably find it easier to put their own men in and run things as they should be run, than to bully-rag the persons now in charge into a proper discharge of their duties. MAPS. Is He the Light Verse Champion ? W = offer for the consideration of the thoughtful the suggestion that Mr. Owen Seaman, the new editor of Punch, is the best writer of light verse now in commission. In weighing this suggestion there should be consid- ered the steadiness of M gait, and the exceptionally even q ity of his performance. . There may be better sprinters than he in the light verse field, but who is there that can go round the course more times in a better fashion ina given twelvemonth ? GOOD drawing card—one that fills a four flush. STRAIGHT and narrow path— the tight-wire performer's. comicbooks.com