Life, 1911-02-16 · page 19 of 44
Life — February 16, 1911 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate satirical pieces: **"The Shortest Road"** (top): An illustration of an early automobile on a scenic mountain road, likely satirizing the "shortest distance between two points" — suggesting life's complications versus simple solutions. **"The Only One"** (center): A story mocking idea monopolies and political incompetence. It describes someone cornering the market on ideas and hoarding them, while an inexperienced politician panics about the shortage. This appears to critique both capitalist speculation and political inexperience during an era of economic anxieties. **"On the Safe Side"** (right): Two editors discuss advertising strategy, with one suggesting they simply copy whatever appeared in the previous issue of *Life*. This self-aware joke mocks both editorial laziness and the magazine industry's tendency toward unoriginal repetition. **Two face illustrations** accompany contrasting aphorisms about success versus failure and how the world treats you accordingly—satirizing human fickleness and social hypocrisy. The page exemplifies *Life*'s satirical approach: social commentary through wordplay and ironic observation of American business, politics, and media culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
nn GS, van ae ne THE SHORTEST ROAD The Only One HERE came a time when ideas were all on a paying basis and com- manded a price in the open market. Then it was that one arose and cornered the market and placing the ideas in cold storage calmly waited the result. Thereupon a great hubbub was raised. “What shall we do without ideas?” asked a young and ambitious politician, who had not been in power long enough to know the ropes. On the Safe Side IRST EDITOR: How shall we make up our advertising pages this week? Seconp Epitor: Same as usual; but you'd first better look over the last num- ber of Lire to see if there is anything new worth imitating. “TT costs him ten thousand dollars a year to live.” “Why does he spend his money so foolishly?” F you acknowledge your faults you de- THE WORLD prive your friends of the pleasure of WHEN YOU SUCCEED ae pointing them out. WHEN you DON’T comicbooks.com