Life — September 23, 1909 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "In the Days of Long Ago" This satirical cartoon critiques economic inequality and labor conditions through a biblical allegory. The illustration depicts Adam and Eve with their children in paradise, contrasted with text mocking how "brief is Earth's perfection." The poem's central joke targets laissez-faire capitalism: Adam's "first mistake" wasn't the forbidden fruit, but rather accepting "the Gospel of Protection" and establishing tariffs and trusts. The satire suggests that economic systems—not original sin—created human suffering. By invoking paradise, the cartoonist argues that protective tariffs and monopolistic trusts corrupted what should have been an innocent world. This reflects early 20th-century American debate over protectionism, tariffs, and corporate monopolies versus free-market ideology.