Life, 1908-11-05 · page 28 of 48
Life — November 5, 1908 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical story mocks the moral decay that accompanies sudden extreme wealth. A formerly modest, virtuous man becomes a millionaire and immediately abandons restraint—building multiple mansions, consulting a clairvoyant, and absurdly increasing his meals from three to six daily to match his inflated social status. The central joke: his body rebels. Despite eating twice what ordinary laborers consume, he becomes ill—suggesting that excess and pretension cannot create genuine superiority or health. The title "Cactus Balm" (a dubious cure-all) hints that no remedy exists for his self-inflicted condition. The cartoon illustrates Life magazine's critique of the Gilded Age wealthy, who believed money entitled them to transcend normal human limits. The satire suggests their status-obsessed extravagance ultimately proves hollow and unhealthy, a "bad bargain" indeed.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘LIFE: The Wonders of Cactus Balm Incidents of a Bad Borgain The Superman NCE there was a Man who had amassed great Wealth, and of course thought that he was much While he was working for He stayed in at thought square —()| better than other People. his Fortune he was modest cnough Sights, was good to his Fami one Wife was sufficient, ate thr drank reasonably cold Water when he was thirsty, owned one modest Home in which he lived comfortably, had Children like the People of the past and Everyone respected him. Meals a d. But, on the day that an Invoice of his Assets required seven Figures to write it, he decided to cut loose and splurge. His economic Foundation was secure. All his Life he had patiently listened to the Preack y that Money was the root of all evil, but he did not believe it, and now he set out to prove that Money was the Sum of all Good. So he had a nice long Article inserted in the local Paper to the effect that he had retired and that in the future he would probably not even cut his own Coupons First, he decided that his House was not big enough for dle over with a Bathroom every few feet and a Porte Cochere at each Entrance. Then, he decided him, so he had it 1 that one House was not enough, so he bought a House in the Mountains and one in Florida and one on the West Coast and one on the Maine Coast and one in the Country and one in the City voyant 10 see how he could live in them all at the same time. The Clairvoyant trimmed to the extent of a few Thousand, but could tell him nothing more than that he had blue eyes, a bald head and would no doubt have an affair with a light- red chorus Girl before he died. Nothing daunted, the Millionaire continued to decide that he was not ea This was not because his Appe- tite was excessive, but because he felt that a Man of his After he had bought them, he went to a Clair- ng enough standing in Bradstreet’s ought to eat more than three Meals a day. A Man who could read his Title clear*to eight or nine private Dwellings, ought surely to consume more Food than the average Ditch-Digger. So he gave Orders that six Meals a day should be served instead of three. This proved to be an admirable arrangement, as it helped to take up his time, until finally his Stomach began to go back on him. He went to the doctor for the first time in his life “ How's this, Dector?"” said he, “I eat twice as much as anyone else and yet I am sick, sick for the first time in my