Life, 1910-02-24 · page 21 of 36
Life — February 24, 1910 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct satirical pieces from *Life* magazine: **Top cartoon**: A crude joke about a scandal involving someone from a "deep sea scandal" (unclear reference without date/context), depicted meeting his "sole mate"—a pun on "soul mate." **Main article "How to Regulate Trusts"**: A biting satirical how-to guide mocking the ineffectiveness of trust regulation in the early 20th century. The piece ridicules the system where wealthy businessmen appoint politicians to Washington with high salaries to *appear* to regulate monopolies ("trusts"), but instead these politicians simply create investigation commissions that drain money and accomplish nothing. The satire suggests this cycle repeats endlessly—whenever asked for results, the politician appoints *another* commission, and every election cycle brings the same scheme with a different politician from a different party. The joke is that everyone becomes complicit in the system through these perpetually investigating committees.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ie) Dt meson, “so ME’S THE FELLOW THAT WAS. MIXED UP IN THAT DEEP SEA SCANDAL— uim?”? WELL, WHO IS THAT WITH “OH—THAT’S MIS SOLE MATE’? “HURRY UP, MA! PA WANTS To GeT UP.'" Howto Regulate Trusts FIND a man who has a large amount of stock in some and is anxious to get more. Tell him that if he will represent you in Washington you will pay him a large salary and respect him besides. If he has a wife and a lot of marriageable daughters he will undoubtedly accept. As soon as he is established in Wash- ington, surrounded by all the comforts which one never gets at home, go to him and tell him that you want the trusts regulated. If he is a shrewd business man he will greet you with a smile and say “ certainly.”” Thereupon he will appoint a commis- sion to investigate the trusts and pay the commission a liberal salary with your money. Wait a year or two. trust Then go to him again and ask him what the commis- sion has done toward regulating the trusts. Do not be afraid to approach him, for, if he is also a shrewd politician, he will not curse or revile you for bothering him so much about your business, even though you are paying him to attend to it. He will greet you with a smile and a hearty handshake and admit that your solicitude is entirely warranted. Thereupon he will appoint another to supersede, but to supervise, the first one, paying the com- mission liberally with your money. Wait until clection day. Discharge your agent at Washington and replace him with another one who belongs to a different trust and a different political party. Proceed as before until every con- sumer has been appointed to some in- vestigating committee. comicbooks.com