Life, 1911-03-02 · page 29 of 52
Life — March 2, 1911 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the women's suffrage movement through the voice of "Priscilla," a self-identified suffragette. The author mocks her cause by having her propose absurd legislation: taxing unmarried men over 35 to support unmarried women past "marriageable age." The cartoon's point is ironic—by advocating punitive taxation of bachelors, the suffragette character undermines her own credibility. The satire suggests that suffragettes are not serious political reformers but rather bitter, irrational women motivated by personal grievance rather than principle. The referenced "Charlotte Smith" appears to have actually proposed such bachelor-tax legislation in Massachusetts (House Bill 1375, 1911), which Life's editors treated as risible proof of suffragette frivolousness. The illustrations—showing women as scattered-brained and chaotic—reinforce the stereotype that women shouldn't vote because they lack sound judgment. This was standard anti-suffrage propaganda of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘LIFE: Priscilla Has Lost None of Her Pristine Vigor REMEMBER hearing a Tammany poli- ] tician say, apropos of the tremendous rain and wind storm which marked Tam- many Day at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, “Even God hates the Irish.” Judging by the weather on St. Valentine's Day, when we had the Suffragette fair at the Suffragettes. It was a fiendish day, and for that reason the general public took no interest at all in the undertaking. But that made no dif- ference. We had a perfectly lovely time selling each other things that nobody wanted and running voting contests for our peerless leaders. Lots of them got their names in the papers, so that our work wasn't en- tirely wasted, Ss" AKING of the way our peerless leaders succeed in getting their names printed over and over again in the newspapers, I notice a growing tendency on the part of editors and reporters to treat them with levity, These gentlemen of the press should remember that they have or had mothers of their own. A woman may be a peerless leader of Suffra- gettes, but she is still a woman, and no man deserving of the name should treat her or speak of her except with the most chivalrous respect. The most unwomanly Suffragette is never- theless a woman. I there is any one thing on earth which is more useless than a bachelor I'd like to know what it is. Anything which will help to turn them into wife-supporting husbands and make it easier for us girls to marry is a move in the right direction. The proposed law I give below should recive the support of every Suflragette in Massachusetts: “HOUSE... No. 1375 Bill accompanying the peti- tion of Charlotte Smith for leg- islation to provide for the tax- ation of bachelors, Taxation. January 19 The Commonwealtd of Massacbusctt In the Year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Eleven. AN ACT Relative to the Tasation of Bachelors. Be it enacted by the Senate . ond House of Represertatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: _ Section 1, Every male person above the age of thirty-five years in this commonwealth who is un- married shall pay a tax of five dollars per annum to the city or town in which he resides, to be assessed in the same manner in which poll taxes are assessed, unless he can prove to the satisfaction of the asscs- sors of the city or town in which he resides that he is not of good moral character, or that he is other- wise unfit for matrimony. 449 Section 2. The fund so obtained shall be ex- pended by the overseers of the poor in. the several cities and towns for the support of deserving spinsters who have passed, or are believed to have passed, the marriageable age. I have not the honor of the acquaintance of Charlotte Smith, and do not even know whether she is married or single, but there is no doubt that she is a noble woman, What Will- iam Lloyd Garrison and his associates did for the freedom of the slave Charlotte Smith scems attempting to do for her un married sisters in the old Bay State. It is a notorious fact and a disgrace to that common wealth that the unmarried women largely outnumber the men While that is so not a single bachelor should be permitted to escape. It is a pity the proposed law permits the bachelors to get off with a tax. They should be imprisoned for life or until they ‘consent to marry the first woman who asks. With such a law in force I myself might be willing to live in Mas sachusetts. Three cheers for Charlotte Smith! She is a splendid woman and is showing the world what kind of legislation we may expect when women get the ballot. HAT'S the matter with those girls up at Welles ley College? They had an elec tion up there the other day to determine whether the college was for or against Votes for Women The little fools voted against it There were 293 votes cast in favor of Wom- an’s Suffrage and 557 on the other side of the question If I had a daughter in that college I'd go up there and tell those teachers whai | thought of them. 1 wish I was one of the teachers. That's the Proper age to catch a girl and make her a good Suffragette The trou ble with almost all of us is that we didn’t become Suf- ‘agettes until we were too old to be anything else. I have always been in favor of college education for girls, but this changes my mind. If I ever have a daughter she shall never go to college—-certainly not to Wellesley. Priscitta Jawnones. ae “VOT = LADIES ALL BUTT ONE comicbooks.com