Life, 1909-01-21 · page 9 of 28
Life — January 21, 1909 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct elements: **Top illustration:** A futuristic vehicle labeled "A Joy Ride of the Future" features an elaborate contraption with a 23-cylinder engine and "1000 Elephant Power." The satire mocks early 20th-century technological excess—the absurdly over-engineered machine is impractical and ridiculous, poking fun at manufacturers' obsession with adding power and complexity rather than utility. **"Newspapers and Veracity" section:** Critiques newspaper reliability, arguing papers print sensational stories without adequate verification. The piece suggests newspapers balance profit motives against truthfulness, noting the difficulty of always achieving accuracy. **"Local" joke:** A husband justifies buying a luxury item by claiming necessity, while the wife sarcastically counters that they couldn't afford it anyway—a commentary on consumer behavior and marital financial disagreements. The page also advertises a writing contest about "the worst novel of the past year."
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Newspapers and Veracity E suppose that consideration of the relation of newspapers to truth is bound always to be somewhat depressing. We owe a great deal more than we realize to the ardor of the more audacious papers, to print the news. But there are times when even the truth about public or quasi-public concerns ought not to be printed, and often the news about the concerns of private persons should be, and is kept out of print. And false statements ought never to be printed, and when they are, the eagerness to set them right should at least equal the eagerness to print them. The line that separates newspapers according to their character does not run between those that are accurately veracious and those that are not, for no live newspaper can hope always to be ac- curately veracious. In its capacity as teller of what is going on it is necessarily fallible and subject to error and misinformation. The line runs between the papers that try hard to tell the truth and nothing else, and those that don't care; between the papers that are ready to cor- rect their misstatements, and those which never take anything back except under the strongest compulsion. Logical USBAND: I suppose you realize that was pure luxury. Why, then, did you buy it? You must have known that we couldn't afford it. Wire: Of course I did. But you see, my dear, if it had been a necessity, we would have had to get it anyway. Philosophical Sea Suferer: THEY SAY YOU CAN'T EAT YOUR CAKE AND KEEP 1T 709. A JOY RIDE OF THE FUTURE IN A 23-CYLINDER PLYER, 1000 ELEPHANT POWER What Is the Worst Novel of the Past Year > And Why? Three Prizes, $100, $50, $25 T° the contributor who sends in the best answer to these questions, Lire will give One Hundred Dollars. To the contributor who sends in the second best answer, Lire will give Fifty Dollars. To the contributor who sends in the third best answer, Lire will give Twenty-five Dollars. CONDITIONS. All manuscripts must be addressed to the Editor of Lire, 17 West Thirty-first’ Street, New York, and must be marked “ Worst Novel Contest.”” No contribution must exceed five hundred words in length. The shorter the better. The name and address of the contributor must be written plainly on each manuscript. Lire does not hold itself responsible for the loss or non-return of contributions, but where a stamped and addressed return envelope is in- closed, rejected manuscripts will be returned. Each contestant may send in as many con- tributions as he or she desires. The contest will close on February fiftcenth, no manuscript received after noon of that day being considered. The contest will be decided by the Lire. ors of comicbooks.com