Life, 1908-08-13 · page 14 of 20
Life — August 13, 1908 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains political satire critiquing Republican economic policy during an era of unemployment (likely early 1900s, given references to Lincoln Steffens and Joe Cannon). **"A Few Reflections"** (left column): Ellis O. Jones attacks a proposed Republican plan to employ idle workers to demonstrate party competence. His satire exposes the logical flaw: goods can't sell at profit because markets lack money, yet merely producing more goods won't create that purchasing power. He mocks this as abandoning Adam Smith's economics purely for electoral advantage, sarcastically inviting Republican leaders to answer how this solves the fundamental problem. **"LIFE's Wall Street Column"**: A brief market note mentioning copper prices, reflecting the magazine's business coverage. **"Who Am I?"**: A riddle poem (answer appears to be "a kiss") provides lighthearted content. **"A Lion Rebuked"**: An incomplete humorous story about a famous hunter confronting a lion, serving as filler material. The page demonstrates Life's satirical approach to contemporary political-economic debates through editorial commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Few Reflections OW it is proposed to put all the idle men to work in order that they may be duly impressed with the in- fallibility of the Repub- lican party as a pros- perity-monger. Laying aside all question as to why the party needs this artificial boost, a train of reflection is called up by the proposi- tion. Z In the first place, why $< are the men out of work? The answer must be that they were discharged because it was not profitable to employ them. * That is to say, their products could not be sold at a profit. So, so! The products could not be sold at a profit because the markets were stagnated. The markets were stagnated, not because the people did not need goods, but because they did not have the money to buy them All right. Now then, it is proposed to adopt a new desideratum in business, a new theory of political econon Goods are to be produced, not to be sold at a profit, but to help the workingman to help the Republican party. How about the markets? Of course, the mere resumption of goods-making will not help the markets, else we would not have stopped making them in the first place. A few people possibly will buy goods, not because they want them, but to help the Republican party. Most people will refrain from buying goods, not because they do not want them, but because they haven't the necessary wherewithal. This is a theory of political economy of which Adam Smith never even dreamed. What will be the outcome be- yond the election of the Republican ticket? What is to become of these products? If they are to be moved, prices will have to come down. If they are not to be moved, the markets will be glutted worse than they were before. These may he embarrassing questions, taxing the ingenuity of a Tammany statesman or an Indiana litterateur. Nevertheless, they seem to be rotten timely, and the first man answering them to the satisfaction of Lincoln Steffens, Joe Cannon or Mrs. Nicholas Longworth, formerly the President's daughter, will receive an embossed copy of the Repub- lican platform, with all objectionable matter eliminated. Ellis O. Jones. A STIMULUS, failure is the only real success. “LIFE: LIFE’S Wall Street Column CopPER’s VERY UNSETTLED Who Am 1? COME from many a maiden’s lips, I fly through airy spaces. Between two hearts I make quick trips; I linger on sweet faces. I bind love's bargain many a time; I heal up many a quarrel, Adorn a tale, inspire a rhyme, And blot out many a moral. My first is better than my last; With age I grow much colder; I linger often in the past, My memory makes men bolder. I may be false, I may be true, I may be sweet or sour; For me the kings of earth may sve, While babies wield my power. I'm nothing; yet I’m everything; I die when consummated; From death to life once more I spring, With love's sweet message freighted. No rule for me beneath the sun! I scorn all mathematics; With one and one, why, I make one; True only to cestatic: Dividing two, then one I've made By adding still another; The best laid plans men have essayed I lightly touch, and smother. I add, subtract and multiply, I've never been refuted ; Yet my sum totals always die As soon as they’re computed. I'm full of sadness, full of bliss, And everything that bliss i Yet, though I've never made a miss, I've made too many Mrs. Thomas L. Masson. A Lion Rebuked HERE was once a hunter so mighty, whose fame had so penetrated to the four corners of the earth, that when he at length came up with a lion the beast was seized with stage-fright and trembled in every limb ‘The hunter was at no pains to conceal his impatience. “Come, now! Don't be a molly- coddle!"" he cried. “ The publishers are paying a dollar a word for the story of what is about to happen, and they've a right to expect some ginger. The lion, as it proved, was not with- out a certain nobility of character, and the appeal to his sense of fairness had its effect. True, he was killed, but only after a scuffle. Ccomicbooks.com