Life, 1907-06-06 · page 16 of 56
Life — June 6, 1907 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily an **advertising page** from Life magazine, not a political cartoon page. The main content consists of automobile and product advertisements (Franklin cars, Witherbee Battery, Jones Speedometer, Abbott's Bitters, etc.). The significant editorial content appears on the right side: a literary critique discussing a novel called "Coniston" and a character named Ruel Durkee. The text defends Durkee against portrayals in this "historical novel," arguing he was not a political boss but an honest man of character. It criticizes historical fiction generally for being neither authentic biography nor good creative writing—dismissing such works as manipulative spectacle ("the bony fist of the showman visibly propels them"). The page reflects early 1900s concerns about how literature depicts real political figures and the tension between factual accuracy and artistic freedom. Without additional context, the specific political figures and novel referenced remain unclear from the image alone.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Air-cooling doesn’t cool, eh? How about that 15-day Franklin record from San Francisca to New York—4500 road-miles in August weather—600 miles through the Great American De- sert. Could any other automobile have done it? Send for the book. Franklins are H.H. FRANKLIN MFG. CO., Syracuse, N.Y Member Association Licensed Au le Manufacturers FRANKLIN IGNITION SAFETY You are never safe from ignition troubles, unless your motor is equipped with a Witherbee Battery The majority of motor troubles are due to faulty ignition. A WITHERBEE BATTERY will correa and eliminate them. Booklet No. | 0a ignition troubles, their causes and nt, free on request. WITHERBEE IGNITER CO. Main Office, 541 West 43d St., New York City UMANCHES: BALTIMORE, 5:0 Continental Puilding CHICAGO: 14:9 Michigan Ave. DETROIT: oto Jetlerson Ave. The Exhaustive Scientific Tests of the Automobile Club of Great Britain and_Ireland did not establish the Jones Speedometer as the Standard Speed Indicator. Its position as such has existed since it was first pre- tented as the Pioneer Speed Indicator. The Gold Medal and Highest Award of the Auto- mobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland to the Jones Speedometer for superiority was simply a logical result of an offcial determination of such a standard. Ries will find * Speedometer’ lication on Speed ae jects—worth many times Its. price is request to The Jones Speedometer Co. 2228 BROADWAY NEW YORK n TRADEMARK REGISTERED A simple device to prevent snoring and make you bresthe Properly. Soon breaks you of sleeping with mouth open. Approved by athletes and singers. old Filled, $1.00 SIMPLE DEVICE Co. T Weat 26th street New York, N.Y. CAMP ST. REGIS Upper St. Regis Lake in the Adirondacks SELECT sammer camp for boys situated in the most delightful beatiful spot is the A Wonts. Ope mille from Paul Sea totel. Hoating,. fsb Tutoring ta ail branches by experienced college graduates. For part ulars, addres. Alfred C. Robjent, Lawrenceville, New Jersey. it It is Abbott's. Makes the best cocktail. A. delightfal romatic for all wine, spirit ax oer! tableapsbefal in an ounce Of eherry orc eweetened water after mealsatfords relief and aida digestion. | portant to se capitalist, of New York, formerly of New Hampshire. It was he who made the speech nominating Durkee for delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention at Chicago, in 1880. Their relations were in timate and affectionate, and he has fol lowed up Senator Chandler’s letter with a series of pointed and pungent letters ad- dressed to the author of “Coniston.” It is insisted most emphatically that Durkee was not, in any sense of the word, a politi- cal boss; that he never oppressed any per son who owed him money or sought to influence that person’s political conduct; that he never received or offered a bribe; that his influence in politics was due solely to his knowledge of men and strength of character; that he lived and died compara- tively poor, and that he was open-handed, and even forbore to press the settlement of debts justly due him. sk ® HATEVER the ethicsinvolved in this inquiry, it uncovers the vital defect of the so-called “historical” novel—which is neither fish nor flesh, nor good red herring. Uninformed, with true creativeimagination, false in their psychology, and lacking the literalness of frank biography, the puppets of this process fall short alike of fiction and of fact. “The bony fist of the showman visibly propels them, their bellies are stuffed with bran”; we do not “eagerly partake of their adventures.” We would like to see a real biography of Ruel Durkee. Some genius may yet do him justice. An intellectual giant who could neither read nor write; a rustic arrayed in broadcloth; a maker of hay and of judges—of a nation’s president, even— the State, twas he; a man who made friends that twenty years after his death cry out against a caricature—it would seem that such material were worth somebody’s while. Hawkins et al. NOTE in the following item from a health resort journal the incompar- able superiority of the pen to the sword General Rush C. Hawkins, U.S. A., retired aged seventy-five years, left Mudlavia much improved in health. He had suffered for thirty years with rheumatic pains and in- somnia. He isa friend of Dr.$. Weir Mitchell. ‘The overshadowing importance of the Author is significant. We may soon expect to sce in the daily press paragraphs like these: Mr. John D. Rockefeller has decided to buy Ocean County, New Jersey, as a ph ground for his grandchild. Mr. Rocke is the multimillionaire who was once written up by Miss Ida Tarbell. Mr. Charles Warren Fairbanks will not make Washington his future home, as s persons had expected. The buttermilk in the District of Columbia does not agree with him. comicbooks.com