Life, 1909-07-01 · page 15 of 44
Life — July 1, 1909 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon:** Three men (labeled "Eldest Brother") present themselves as suitors to a seated woman, then suggest "the Governor" as an alternative. This appears to be political satire about marriage proposals and political candidates—the joke suggests that after rejecting three suitors, she should consider a governor, implying politicians are as disposable or interchangeable as rejected romantic prospects. **"How It Works" Article:** This is economic satire tracing how a factory wage dispute cascades through supply chains. Workers demand a ten-cent daily raise; instead of granting it, management raises product prices 10%, which wholesalers exploit by buying at old prices and marking up 25%, jobbers increase 50%, retailers double prices to consumers. The irony: arbitration denies workers their raise, but consumers unknowingly bear the cost anyway. The piece satirizes how middlemen profit from labor disputes while actual workers gain nothing. **"A Hint to Travel" Cartoon:** A weary sailor and farmer joke about the sailor "following the sea for thirty years"—with the farmer suggesting he'll catch up with it in thirty more. A gentle pun on slow progress.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Eldest Brother: Now THAT YOU HAVE REJECTED ALL THREE OF US, COULDN'T YOU POSSIBLY CONSIDER THE GOVERNOR? Wer CAN'T GIVE UP THE IDEA OF MAVING YOU IN THE FAMILY A Hint to Travel How It Works EARY WALKER: What! Don't look like a sailor? Why, I've been following the sea for thirty years. Farure Haycror: Well, you keep following it for thirty years more, and perhaps you'll catch up with it HE employees of a certain factory submitted a demand for increased wages. They wanted ten cents more on the day, and threatened to strike unless the demond was granted The company at once requested arbitration, and increased the price of its product ten per cent. The wholesalers took a gloomy view of the situation, ordered large quantities of the product at the old price, as the increase would not go into effect for thirty days, and marked the price up twenty-five per cent. The jobbers immediately increased prices fifty per cent. on the old stock they had on hand ‘ The retailers promptly doubled the price to the consumer. Whereupon the newspapers expressed themselves in no un- certain terms The board of arbitration decided against the employees of the factory and they remained at work at the old scale. But the consumer had lost sight of this part of the transaction Thus do our channels of production influence our pros- ») Mr, Bug: THOSE NEWPORT SWELLS CAN DO AS THEY PLEASE, BUT, STYLE OR NO STYLE, THIS 18 THE LAST MONKEY DINNER T perity. EVER GIVE comicbooks.com