Life, 1908-03-05 · page 11 of 36
Life — March 5, 1908 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine (page 241) contains a satirical illustration and two articles critiquing American newspapers and legislation. The large cartoon depicts figures emerging from or surrounding a doorway, shown upside-down, suggesting chaos or disorder. It appears to accompany commentary on newspaper editorial standards. The text discusses two topics: 1. **"Housekeeping Legislation"**: Oklahoma legislators passed a bill requiring sheets nine feet long and forbidding cracked dishes—absurd regulations that satirize legislative overreach and trivial lawmaking. 2. **"Weak Spots"**: The article criticizes the *World* newspaper for publishing an interview with J.P. Morgan (a prominent banker) and the *Times* for covering an engagement involving a Hungarian adventurer—suggesting these prestigious papers waste space on frivolous society news rather than substantive reporting. The satire targets both governmental and journalistic failures in prioritizing content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
E < a o a Zz € ~ a & a 4 ind a = VM COMPLETELY WORN OUT AND AM OFF TO BEDI IS READY. $0 GOOD OF ALL OF YoU TO COME. (What the young hostess wanted to say) : 241 Housekeeping Legislation HE papers said that on February 10 the Okla- homa House of Representa- tives passed a bill requiring hotels in Oklahoma to pro- vide sheets nine feet long and forbidding them to use cracked dishes. If it is true, and the legislators really meant it, it only signifies that they are up with the times in their estimation of the value of legal enactment in making things comfort- able for the voters. Time was when such things as sheets and cups belonged to housekeeping, but now everything belongs to legis- lation except a few things accidentally rescued by one or another constitution. The Oklahoma constitu- tion, being fresh and novel, doubtless rescues very little. Weak Spots HAT a_ remarkable paper the World would be if the brains which it employs editorially in such edifying measure could only be supplemented by more effective com- punctions about the verac- ity and quality of its news stories. It should have been a surprise to read in its issue of February 9 an interview with Mr. J. P. Morgan, which every experienced newspaper reader must have set down at sight as a fake. That it was not a surprise but was merely rated as a characteristic piece of en- terprise, indicates the spot in which, ethically speak- ing, the World is weak. And that the Times, about the same time, should have devoted a column or two of its best news space to an absurd report of the engagement of Mrs. Van- derbilt to a Hungarian ad- venturer indicates where the Times’s weak spot is. comicbooks.com