Life, 1911-02-09 · page 4 of 44
Life — February 9, 1911 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the "Mental Life" subscription service, which claims to connect subscribers with deceased famous figures—apparently wealthy industrialists like Carnegie, Morgan, and Rockefeller—through mediums and astral projection. The cartoon "It Happened in Philadelphia" depicts yogis or spiritualist practitioners, likely mocking the pseudoscientific training required to access this service. The satire targets both the gullible wealthy paying fifteen dollars annually and the con artists operating the scheme. A letter complains the service won't help a woman place her husband on the subscription list without his knowledge or consent—suggesting these services exploited family dynamics and financial disputes. The overall message ridicules early 20th-century spiritualism as an exploitative fraud preying on the bereaved and credulous.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ON THE WAITING LIST TAL LIFE ARE E are able at last to make an announcement, the news of which, although vibrated through space, has given joy to millions. Our subscription list has hitherto been lim- ited to twenty millions, and there been twenty-five millions more on the waiting list; as fast as a vacancy occurred in the regular list, the first in line on the waiting list would come in as a regular, Owing, however, to the fact that our regular subscribers scarcely ever dic, because of the harmonic plane they are on, vacancies have rarely occurred. It has indeed been estimated that it would take from twenty to thirty years for a “waiter” to become a “regular.” Why haven't we changed this? Simply because of our force; our resources in help have been strictly limited, and we could not possibly take care of more than twenty million regular subscribers. Our yogi training school has been run- ning full blast day and night, and every gen- uine trance medium in the country has been up by our manager, Gee. Ime. Mit. We ~ have for some time practically controlled the market for spi ualists, and whenever an astrologer of a seventh son or a palmist has hung up his sign, we have frozen him out, so that he was obliged to take a position with us. But under the most favorable circumstances it takes from six to nine months to train a yogi; his astral body has to be ally trained for the work of our recording department self go through a course of in- struction that would make the ordinary circus contortionist look like a rest cure. Every yogi who applies is immediately tested by his aura; if this assays four hundred vibrations to the cubic inch, and if it has no red waves we start him on simple work, such as recording complaints. But many yogis fail, and break down, and as they are scarce anyway, hitherto our force has only been kept up to its normal standard by spet and his subliminal hard work. It occurred to Gee. Ime. Mit., ho' be throughout the world a large number of uncon: and mediums, and that if we could locate them casy to break them in to our work, His great discovery was made one day when in Philadelphia; on the outskirts of that town he discovered a belt of uncon- mediums, in a_half-somnolent our head yogi was sent out with a er, that there must ious yogis it would be It Happened in Philadelphia Our Frat Pin She SS on Suspicron. FOR THE MEN- MADE HAPPY. force of assistants, and the result is that we now have a largely augmented staff of wonderful mediums, some of whom have a recording capacity of a million vibrations an hour, We have therefore decided to open cur regular subscription list to all those on the iting list; but in view of the fact that our expenses are largely increased, we are compelled to raise the price to all new subscribers to fifteen dollars a year. Concentrate on any bright object, ask mentally that fifteen dollars be sent to Gee. Ime. Mit., and in a week you will be getting the Mental Life. It must be understood, however, that this does not at first entitle you to all of the privileges of the third harmonic plane. These can only come through a iong apprenticeship. You are under treatment from the moment you begin. You don’t know this, of course, but that does not alter the fact. fhe things you see are the only unreality. Mr. Rockefeller, Mr Carnegie, Mr. Morgan, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Cannon, and in fact most of our public men are all our mental subscribers, only they don't know it— yet. We have been treat- ing Mr. Carnegie’s sub- liminal self for a long time; we hope in time to get him to the point that he will give away money without want- ing anyone to know i In the course of time, indeed, we anticipate that these gentlemen will all be united joyfully with their subliminal selves, and will thus be on the third harmonic plane and be able to see a blue disc with a yellow centre, which is the highest point reached before re- incarnation. We have received the following vibration, which, for the benefit of our coarse physical friends, we translate into ordi- nary prose: IMAGINARY eS = Gee. Ime. Mit. I have long been a glad subscriber to the Mental Life, and enjoyed it very much, although I am sorry that you are running so many advertisements. Now I am very anxious for my husband also to be placed on your list, but, inasmuch as he has no will of his own, I am compelled to subscribe for him. I vibrate herewith fifteen dollars. Please send to him direct. We have with great regret been compelled to refuse this request, and have promptly returned the lady's money. If her husband wants the Mental Life, he will have to make the effort himself. In the condition he is in, the Mental Life would do him no good anyway. (Concluded on page 293) Sent to the Elect comicbooks.com