Life, 1910-04-14 · page 17 of 44
Life — April 14, 1910 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The New Servant cartoon** satirizes changing gender dynamics in domestic employment. The text notes that male employers no longer visit servant agencies to hire help—female servants now refuse to be engaged by men, insisting on dealing with female principals instead. The joke critiques this as absurd: if women's progress is real, shouldn't men now do "women's work"? The satire mocks both the servants' newfound assertiveness and the notion that gender roles should simply reverse. **The Municipal Problems section** lists rhetorical questions about Philadelphia's public service corporations, likely following labor unrest or transit strikes. It satirizes contradictions: corporations claim exclusive transport rights while refusing service; mayors serving dual roles; police protecting strikebreakers; and governments enforcing franchises that exploit citizens. The satire targets corporate corruption and government complicity in protecting business interests over public welfare. Both pieces critique emerging social tensions in early 20th-century America.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
TUE “you've Got us Now The New Servant RECENT examination of some of our most prominent servant girls’ encies has brought out the interesting fact that men are not seen there so much now in the act of engaging servants as they were. A few y 0 it was no uncommon sight in almost any servants’ agency in the city to sce one or two men timidly and nervously answering the questions put to them by the prospective applicants On its face this is an astounding fact. It would seem that if the progress of woman is really a fact, men would now be doing more and more the work that woman ence did. And yet the reason, oy is due to themselves. upon reflection, is plain. It the attitude of servants They refuse to deal with men. No self-respecting cook will now per- mit herself to be engaged by a mere man. She insists upon dealing with the prin- cipals. Modern Municipal Problems VENTS in Philadelphia have added to the multitude of problems with which we are already burdened. The following few may be mentioned : To what extent may a public service corporation have the exclusive right to transport passengers and, at the same time, the exclusive right not to transport passengers? To what extent can a Mayor be a di- rector in a public service corporation and a public servant at the same time To what extent are policemen justi- fied in clubbing citizens in the interest 677 of non-resident stockholders of public service corporations? To what extent are citizens justified in rioting when that is the only way they have of showing their disapproval of the acts of their representatives? To what extent are citizens justified in giving a corporation a franchise to rob them and then in paying policemen and other politicians to sce that the robbery is protected? To what extent docs a perpetual fran- chise to the pvblic streets imply a per- petual franchise to the government ma- chinery? How much better would the police of Philadelphia have succeeded in their avowed object of peace if they had not assisted in the importation of strike breaking thugs? To what extent is a public service cor- poration justified in upsetting the peace of a community in order to show its love for non-union men? Ellis O. Jones. But wait!"’ comicbooks.com