Life, 1908-11-19 · page 13 of 28
Life — November 19, 1908 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces satirizing automobile safety and driver behavior in the early automotive era. **"The Pessimist"** depicts a woman warning a male driver about the dangers of automobiles—she references previous accidents and urges caution. The cartoon mocks pessimistic attitudes toward the then-new technology. **"What We Need Most"** criticizes reckless driving. It describes a racer driving at "nearly ninety miles an hour" who swerves into oncoming traffic, causing a collision with two small cars. The narrative suggests that what society needs is not more automotive innovation, but rather driver responsibility and safety-consciousness. Both pieces reflect early-1900s anxieties about automobile dangers and the cultural clash between technological enthusiasm and genuine safety concerns.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“WELL, JONES, THIS 1S A GREAT IMPROVEMENT OVER THE “ou, 1 DON’T KNOW; IT’S A BIT MONOTONOUS. THERE'S OLD WOMAN AWAITING YOU ’ROUND THE BEND IN THE ROAD, MUCH Can HAPPEN UNEESS YOU PALL AND BREAK YOUR OWN What We Need Most HE activity of the scientists to dis- cover something which will prolong human life would be of some im- portance if anyone took any interest in it. What the average man wants is something that will keep him so oc- cupied that he doesn’t have to stop and do any thinking. At one of the big automobile races two years ago the driver of one of the machines was going along a straight stretch of road at the rate of nearly ninety miles an hour Suddenly, on the road ahead of him there loomed up two small cars which had run into each other. The driver of the racer swerved his car to the right, ran into a rail fence right OLD-FASHIONED AUTOMOBILE.” AS PAST AS YOU LIKE, THERE'S NOTHING NOTHING TO PREVENT YOUR GOING xo NO STRAY CHICKENS, AND SO ON. rad cows, through eight heavy posts, when the machine turned up into the air and threw him nearly fifty feet into a field. He sprang up, waved his arms wildly, and shouted at the top of his lungs. The people who came to his rescue couldn't hear him at first, but when they did they found that he was shout- ing for another car, That driver stood for a principle. Life was getting tame for him. Death of no particular consequence. Put while he was alive, he wanted to be kept reasonably busy, doing something that he liked hat with, We are all like that, in rela Ten somber little mother birds were left sitting on their nests with nobody to feed then And the hat was called the Merry Widow. was ive degrees. gorgeous little father birds were killed to trim the comicbooks.com