Life, 1911-01-19 · page 17 of 44
Life — January 19, 1911 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical dialogue mocks wealthy industrialists who claim credit for grand accomplishments while doing no actual work themselves. Mr. Scadds, a gentleman financier, is celebrated for "building" an elegant mansion—yet he merely approves plans and provides money. The actual laborers (working men) perform all construction work while remaining invisible to society's esteem. The joke exposes class hypocrisy: society attributes achievement to the wealthy patron rather than the workers who create value. The cartoon's final line—"It doesn't matter who does the work. The only thing that matters is who gets the benefit"—cynically captures how industrial-era capitalism rewarded capital ownership over labor, and how social prestige followed money, not merit or effort. This reflects Progressive-era critiques of capitalist inequality common in early 1900s *Life* magazine satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
esesa st A MISGUIDED REFORMER Who? “YY HAT a beautiful house! "” “Yes, it is a most elegant man- sion.”* “Who is building it?” “It is being built. by Mr. J. Mont- gomery Scadds.”” “T should like to meet him, for 1 want to get some one to build a house for me”? “Oh, but Mr. Scadds does not build houses for other people.”” “ How selfish! A man who can build so well ought to be anxious to cover the whole face of the earth with his handi- work. But who are those unkempt- looking people coming out of the house?” “Those are workingmen.”” “Do you mean to say that Mr. Scadds has given over such a beautiful mansion to the occupancy of mere workingmen?” “Certainly not. They are working on the house, putting the finishing touches.”” “ But I understood you to say that Mr. Scadds was doing the work.”* “Not at all. Mr. Scadds does no work. Mr. Scadds is a gentleman.”* “T beg your pardon, but I am quite sure you said Mr. Scadds was building the house.” “T did, but that doesn’t mean that he is doing the work.” “Then what has he to do with the matter? "” “He merely approves the original plans and furnishes the money. Mr. Scadds himself is in Europe, His agents here attend to the details.” “Then who is really house? "” “It doesn’t matter who is really build- ing it.” “ How strange.’ “Tt doesn’t matter who docs the work. The only thing that matters is who gets the benefit of the work. building the 165 Query F you were a young man of pronounced literary talent and it were possible for you 10 achieve success in two ways which we specify below— And if, at the same time, you found yourself at the beginning of this strug- gle with a family on your hands, say, of a wife and three or four children, which would you do? First: Would you write dime-novels— not dime-novels which would deliberately corrupt youth, but dime-novels with the necessary adventure and excitement—and by doing this make for yourself an income of four or five thousand dollars a year, thereby keeping your family in comfort and educating your children for their work in life? Second: Would you make a deliberate sacrifice of your family, compelling them to live in poverty, with scant education, and would you adopt a literary carcer which would give you a genuine reputa- tion as a literary artist among the few high-class litera-v critics of the land, by writing books thai ~ould not sell enough to make it pay as a business? concomitants of Acrostic Beauties betting boldly. Roués revelling rakishly. Indigents indulging incessantly. Dogmatic dowagers domineering Girls greedily gambling. Everyone eagerly enlisting. AROUND THE OLD BELT LINE comicbooks.com