Life, 1911-01-05 · page 48 of 104
Life — January 5, 1911 — page 48: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page critiques police handling of labor strikes in Philadelphia, Columbus, and New York involving car workers, expressmen, and chauffeurs. The top cartoon satirizes the absurdity of using automobiles (then relatively new) as police vehicles to suppress strikes—showing chaotic street scenes where police deploy cars against workers. The article argues that while authorities easily *can* use force to club strikers and protect employers' interests, doing so creates a deeper problem: it breeds resentment and pushes workers away from Democratic and Republican parties toward radical alternatives (likely socialism or anarchism). The bottom cartoon, "A Good Start," shows a vehicle labeled "Good Resolutions" running over a fallen worker—suggesting that official declarations of fairness are meaningless without genuine reform. The satire's point: brutal strike suppression may win tactical victories but strategically undermines political stability by radicalizing the working class.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Nic 4 | XT GAHANAs Ra > IP WISILES WERE AUTOS THEN NO ONE COULD WALK Strikes and Authorities W* should not underestimate the problem of the authorities in handling strikes, such as the recent car strikes in Philadelphia and Columbus and the strikes of the expressmen and the chauffeurs in New York. On the mere physical side, of course. isy It is the work of but a moment to call out the police reserves, to put them on the cars, the wagons and the taxis. It is the merest child’s play for a policeman to club a striker or any- one else who happens to be in the vicin- ity. It requires no thought at all to as- sume that the only rights which police- are bound to respect and protect are the rights of the employers In all that there is no problem whatsoever. The A Goov sTaKt difficulty, however, comes in making the strikers and their sympathizers hke these methods, in nourishing their reverence for the government, in retaining their respect for the institutions under which they live. in keeping them from breaking their allegiance to the Democratic and Republican parties and wandering of to which seems to offer greater atior. to the men who do the work. comicbooks.com