Life, 1906-12-20 · page 13 of 46
Life — December 20, 1906 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical page from *Life* magazine featuring a fantastical illustration and accompanying commentary on wealth and social reform. The main cartoon depicts Santa Claus surrounded by various industrial/commercial items (automobiles, machinery) scattered across a landscape, with a full moon in the background. The caption references Santa adopting "new-tangled automobiles," suggesting criticism of modern commercialism corrupting traditional values. Below, the text sections titled "A Thought" and "Perpetuity" critique wealth inequality and industrial fortunes. "Perpetuity" specifically references "Carnegie Spelling" and discusses Mr. Roosevelt's policies regarding steel, pills, and swollen fortunes—likely referring to President Theodore Roosevelt's trust-busting efforts against industrialists like Andrew Carnegie. The satire targets the contradiction between charitable philanthropy and the perpetuation of massive industrial wealth, arguing that Roosevelt's reforms cannot truly redistribute such fortunes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
on face Sante Claus ajter the explosion): GEE! 1 KNEW 1 MAD NO BUSINESS TO ADOPT ONE OF THESE NEW-TANGLED AUTOMOBILES 1 A Thought ISDOM has a bowling-alley Into which the Thinkers sally. One can, with a single Thought, Make Opinions nine be—naught! Perpetuity ARNEGIE Spelling, we surmise, will do more to perpetuate the name of the great ironmaster than anything else which that name has been identified with. How can it be otherwise ? Mr. Roosevelt, you will recall, is going to put a stop to swollen fortunes. Men will still go into steel, pills and real estate, but they will hardly be permitted to get rich enough to reform the spelling any more. It will remain Carnegie Spell- ing to the end of time, in all human probability. ‘The possibility that the tariff, which raised up Mr. Carnegie, will get by the President, by dint of blocking and interference, and raise up others, equally opulent, equally stung with a sense of the finer things and equally desirous of living in the hearts of their countrymen, is very remote. True, the stand- patters act ugly, but with a certain grogginess which does not escape the discerning eye and which augurs well for the best interests of humanity. ia IS when we stop playing that we begin to grow old. comicbooks.com