Life, 1909-02-25 · page 19 of 28
Life — February 25, 1909 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains several satirical pieces mocking American society: **"The Small Investor"** ridicules naive retail investors who expect treatment equal to powerful financiers despite lacking their resources or influence. The satire suggests small investors are foolish, easily manipulated, and deserve their losses. **"Democracy"** presents a logical puzzle from an Interstate Commerce Commission dinner, poking fun at abstract political rhetoric and college debate societies—suggesting such high-minded arguments about state power are ultimately meaningless wordplay. **"Silence"** is a philosophical humor piece contrasting silent wise men with foolish ones who "go mad" without talking. The right-side illustration labeled **"The American Husband"** appears to satirize the American husband as a creature worthy of study, though the specific critique isn't elaborated in visible text. A small joke about a "Considerate Little Girl" offering an elephant a currant provides lighter humor. Overall, the page reflects early 20th-century *Life* magazine's satirical tone: mocking financial naiveté, political pretension, and social conventions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: The Small Investor UCH a thing as sporting blood seems to be unknown to the veins of the small investor. He wants the same con- sideration as if he were not small. How fresh! How puerile! How naive! How deliciously ingenuous! The small investor takes the bait of the bediamonded, white-waist- coated promoter, and buys stock which is nothing . / WA but a waste of good paper and ink, and then ex- ) ln pects to be treated just as well asa financier who Li pe SN has robbed a bank to get control of the stock in ; Vigo Mad : question and put up the job. Oh, fie, small in- = ? be fe we vestor. Do not ask us for assistance. 2: Even if we should make laws to cover your present difficulties, you are so easy that you would go right off and get into more mischief. Come, brace up and take your medicine. Democracy T a recent dinner in New York a gentleman referring to the Inter- state Commerce Commission, offered the following generalization as a con- tribution to the literature of democ- racy: “If any body of men has the power to interfere with the individual, then the power of the state passes to hands more powerful than itself. Undoubtedly the gentleman knew what he meant, but if a part of the ‘state is more powerful than the whole state, then the state is not so power- ful as it would be if it did not have so many parts, and vice versa. This thought is suggested to col- lege debating societies. The form of the question should be: The Simple State vs. The Simple Statement. Silence sues E is a language under- stood in every country. Were silence to be enforced on all of us for a single day, the fools would go mad. The wise would talk less thereafter. Silence, in the shallow man, means that he is out of breath. A man is known by the silence Lh, , i Y ) WwW he keeps. \ ‘ N YX Wy v A. silent’ man may not be 4 fi oS aan \ thinking; but the burden of 9 proof is not on him, To be silent in company is to invite the suspicion that “you have something on your min reason is obvious. Freeman Tilden, ONSIDERATE LITTLE GIRL: Please, Mr. Keeper, will it hurt the elephant if I give him a currant out of my bun? MERICAN HUSBAND UPID figures as the janitor in the majority of ai THE AMERICAN f castles, A WINTER STUDY OP THIS INTERESTING CREATURE comicbooks.com