Life, 1908-01-09 · page 17 of 22
Life — January 9, 1908 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page satirizes wealthy industrialists and their corrupt practices during the Gilded Age. The headline references "Jeanne d'Arc d'Oilya ns" (a pun combining Joan of Arc with "oil"), mocking the $27 million fortune involved—likely alluding to Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller. The cartoon and accompanying narrative mock: 1. **Ruthless business tactics**: The "Rockefeller grip" joke references predatory monopolistic practices. 2. **Hospital corruption**: Geraldine's father uses a hospital as a financial scheme, forcing patients to deposit cash and investing in bonds rather than patient care—critiquing how wealthy industrialists exploited essential services for profit. 3. **Wealth's moral emptiness**: Characters constantly faint, linger dramatically, and prioritize financial schemes over genuine concern. The satire targets how turn-of-the-century tycoons converted social institutions into personal profit centers while claiming philanthropic virtue.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JEANNE d'R. dOILYANS. No. X—HER $27,000,000 MARTYRDOM THE CHURCH HAVING DESERTED HER, SHE IS CONDEMNED BY THE LAW TO BE FRIED IN BER OWN OIL The two men grappled. Then Ralph Paydecker’s form slowly sank into the debris. “Did you hurt him?” tenderly in- quired Geraldine, as Charley, placing around her a shawl-strap, buckled it up and grasping the handle, hurried back to the motor car. “I merely gave him the Rockefeller grip,” replied Charley. Then he sank back, pressing his hand to his forehead. “Darling, are you injured?” asked Geraldine, tremulously. He smiled brightly as he fainted away once or twice on the shawl-strap. “Tt is nothing,” he muttered. “I came down the track to save time and jarred myself loose—that’s all. T’ll be all right in six months.” “Promise me you will not get well,” she said, passionately, ‘until I take a correspondence course at trained nursing and can bring you back to life.” “1 promise!” v True to his word, Charley Loverly lingered, hovering between life and death long enough for Geraldine to get her diploma. She then applied to the hospital for permission to attend him. “Certainly,” said the head surgeon, when he heard her name, “you can have anything you wish. Your father”— “Papa! I have been searching for him for weeks.” “He now owns this hospital. He came here to be operated upon and soon got control of the stock. He made a rule to make every patient deposit his cash in our safe. We pay interest on it, and in- vest it in bond issues.” “Dear old papa,” murmured Ger- aldine. “Always thinking of others.” Then she hurried away to Charley’s bedside. VI It was three weeks later. Charley was now able to sit up in bed and read the Y. M.C. A. bulletin. Almost This story continued on page 65 DIDN'T; HE WALKED comicbooks.com