Life, 1910-12-15 · page 17 of 44
Life — December 15, 1910 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes women's suffrage and workplace capability through a whimsical illustration of a locomotive extravagantly decorated with bows and flowers, operated by women. The cartoon implies absurdity in the idea of women running railroads—suggesting they would prioritize decoration over functionality, a common anti-suffrage argument of the era. The accompanying text, a letter to "Marse Henry" (Henry Watterson, a real Louisville newspaper editor), discusses Theodore Roosevelt's recent electoral defeat. It jokingly treats Roosevelt as a "toy" the public enjoys playing with, questioning whether the country should keep him "in the box" or continue using him for entertainment. The "Fortune Teller" section mocks matrimony, predicting an athletic-free husband who dies bankrupt—cynical commentary on marriage and women's economic dependence. Together, these pieces reflect early 20th-century anxieties about changing gender roles and political power.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WHEN OUR RAILROADS ARE RUN BY THE FAIR SEX Question; Marse Henry! ARSE HENRY WATTERSON has come to be, on the whole, the most comprehensive and convinced of all ad- mirers of Colonel Roosevelt. Discours- ing on “The Passing of Cxsar” he speaks of him not only as “the most extraordinary figure of his time,” but as “the most acute minded and active bodied man in all the universe since Napoleon Bonaparte.” On every ac- count—for the country’s sake and for the Coloncl’s—Marse Henry rejoices in the Colonel’s recent defeat. “As one, he says, “who, perhaps unconsciously, menaced the institutes of his country, Theodore Roosevelt may be declared no longer dangerous. The man on_horse- back is at last dismounted and afoot.” We beg the Sage of Louisville to ex- tend himself one lap and say if he con- siders that the Colonel is permanently safe, or only temporarily so. Is it our duty, sir, to relegate him into obscurity and leave him there, unadvertised and unremarked, or, still, without prejudice to the country’s prospects, may we take him out of the box from time to time and play with him as heretofore? You know, Marse Henry, we never before had quite such a toy; never anything with quite such works i or capable of affording the same variety of enter- tainment; never such a stimulant, never such a topic. Now that the recent jolt has got him off the horse, is it lawful for us to enjoy him openly or do we owe it to the country to suppress our in- terest and sternly shift our contempla- tions to other subjects? LIFES INFALLIBLE FORTUNE TELLER If you were born on December “G8 Your future wile in spite of appear- ances will be quite sane and a loving and helpful spouse, 15 ‘Your future husband 597 will not be athletic, but will be expert at riding in a taxi. Of course, he will die a bankrupt and leave you penniless,