Life, 1909-04-08 · page 10 of 32
Life — April 8, 1909 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct satirical pieces: 1. **"The Lots Are Going Fast"** (top cartoon): Depicts figures labeled "SLOT" rushing or fleeing, likely satirizing rapid financial speculation or gambling, with the word "LOTS" suggesting real estate or stock market deals. 2. **"Bills"** (middle section): A prose piece criticizing how commercial bills accumulate and burden debtors. The accompanying cartoon shows upside-down legs, suggesting financial ruin or people being overwhelmed by debt obligations. 3. **"A Plea for Mercy"** (photograph): Shows cats and a kitten with caption "YOUR HONOR, I HAVE A WIFE AND SIX LITTLE ONES AT HOME"—anthropomorphizing animals to humorously appeal to sympathy, likely mocking sentimental courtroom pleas. The page blends financial and social commentary typical of Life's satirical approach to American society.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
F all commercial paper, bills are the least understood and the most fre- quently anathematized, not only by the clerks who have to work overtime to- ward the end of the month to get them out, but also by those to whom they are sent. Bills should be paid when due. Many know this, but few know the reason. The reason is that if bills are allowed to run for any great period, those who owe them become so that they do not want to pay at all, until finally—debtors no- toriously having poor memories—the feeling comes that there was something wrong about the bill in the first place, else it would have been paid when due Hence the justice of the peace Bills are more blessed to give than to receive. These two men look just alike, They seem to be in trouble, It's Mr. Rrown=-he laffed so hard, It simply bent him double, HE Smithsonian Institution has re- ceived $25,000 from Wall street nates toward its share of the ex- penses of the Roosevelt trip to Africa. It is understood that the conditions of the gift include a stipulation for one- way tickets only. se A PLEA FOR MERCY “YOUR HONOR, 1 HAVE A WIFE AND SIX LITTLE ONES AT HOME’? Freedom TT! certain woman who is asking a di- vorce because her husband's poverty makes her a slave, comes to no more than another proof of the essen- tial subjectivity of the condition we call slavery. We're all slaves, except as it is our nature to be free—and all free, except as it is our nature to be slaves. Epictetus was freer than his master, and 0 amount of legislation, though it should be with the high sanction of the sword, can strike off the fetters which some freemen wear Quoth Lovelace, in prison, to his Althea: If I have freedom in my love, And in my soul am free, Angels alone that soar above Enjoy such liberty. And the kitchen of a modern flat isn't so much worse than a prison of the seventeenth century that the principle doesn't still hold good. A Pastoral Call HE NEW PASTOR: It is my desire to be forever at the service of the members of my flock. Buuxtax: Well, you'll have to cut your sermons, dominie; they don’t want to be forever at yours. comicbooks.com