Life, 1907-05-09 · page 5 of 24
Life — May 9, 1907 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main illustration shows a forest scene where someone asks to move a railroad through the area. The accompanying articles critique social inequality and poor living conditions. The "Changed" section mocks the idea that poverty results from laziness, arguing instead that wealthy classes have deliberately created systems benefiting themselves while exploiting workers. It questions which class the reader belongs to. "What the Socialists Say" references a pamphlet called *Studies in Socialism*, presenting socialist arguments that despite sufficient resources and builders, millions live in inadequate housing because wealth is concentrated among the few. The small cartoon illustrations appear to satirize class differences or social hierarchy, though specific figures are unclear. Overall, the page presents socialist critiques of capitalism and wealth inequality, characteristic of early 20th-century American progressive journalism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘EXCUSE ME, BUT WOULD YOU MIND MOVING A LITTLE TO ONE SIDE? WE’VE GOT TO PUT A RAILROAD THROUGH HERE.” Changed But Love, it soon appeared, was by no means the spoiled child he once had been. “People don’t make so much of him as formerly, particularly Americans,” whis- pered Venus, with a note of resentment. That was the mother of it. She was downright offended, in her heart, and thought it but a poor world where people madesolittleof anything but money, noise, trouble for their neighbors, and the like. What the Socialists Say THIS clipping from Studies in Social- ism may be of interest to a very few prosperous Americans. We say “very few,” as nobody finds pleasure in hearing the other side of his pet argument: There are house builders, architects and material enough in the world to build beau- tiful houses for each and every family, yet millions live in shelters that are unfit for human habitation. These men want to work, and all want to live in good houses. Why, then, is the world so poor? If one part produced food, another houses, another instruction and another pleasure and enter- tainment, don’t you know there would be cnough of these in the world for all who helped to produce them? ‘Then why don’t they do it? Because man, in his ignorance and cunning, has devised rules that give to those who do not produce the larger part of what is produced, and thus themselves do not help, leaving the greater burden on those they exploit. ‘The many, in all ages, have been too stupid to see this cheat, and thus the cunning have ruled and robbed and the useful have slaved and gone with scanty fare. To which class belong you? Extract from a Letter to “Life” ERMIT me to call your attention toa case of the “deadly parallel” in your issue of December 27, attached clipping, when I explain the meaning of the word “Pulajane.” In the Visayan tongue this means an anarchist, or, literally, “red trousers,” and is used to designate a band of persons who refuse to recognize any form of government, and who exist by levying trib- ste on anybody and everybody that fallin their power. You will readily see, therefore, that your criticism might with equal truth be applied to the Western sheriff who shoots down a band of train robbers, o even to the metropolitan police in raiding a gang of counterfeiters. In this connection I wish to state that this error seems general among the newspapers of the State, and invariable in an editorial on the Philippines the same mistaken idea is apparent. SCIENTIFIC NOTE MORE SPOTS HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED ON THE FACE OF THE SON comicbooks.com