Life, 1911-03-30 · page 25 of 45
Life — March 30, 1911 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon**: A customs officer demands duty payment on a baby born abroad, satirizing excessive tariff bureaucracy. The joke mocks how government regulations treat even newborns as taxable imports. **"Looks Like Taft" Section**: This references Gifford Pinchot's 1912 criteria for an ideal Republican presidential candidate. Pinchot, Theodore Roosevelt's former ally, outlined four requirements (wisdom, progressivism, leadership, electoral viability). The article notes these descriptions fit William Howard Taft equally well as Roosevelt—suggesting the criteria are so generic they're meaningless. This satirizes vague political rhetoric and the split between Roosevelt and Taft conservatives within the Republican party during the contentious 1912 election season. **Bottom Cartoon**: Two figures discuss trusts with deliberately unhelpful specificity—one says "hog trust," the other demands clarification. This mocks how vague political accusations about monopolistic "trusts" were, without meaningful definition. Overall, the page criticizes imprecise political and bureaucratic language.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Customs Officer: BABY BORN AT HOME OR ABROAD? Mother: asroav. “WELL, YE'LL HAVE TO PAY DUTY ON IT.” Confidential Book Guide The Adventures of James Capen Adams, Mountaineer and Grizely Bear Hunter of California, by Theodore H. Hittell, An in- teresting and authentic record of frontier life, reproduced from an early and rare edi- tion. ‘Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens, by G. K. Chesterton. See above, Howard's End, by Edward M. Forster. One of the least Spectacular but most satisfy- ing of the season's novels. The Japanese Letters of Lafcadio Hearn. cdited by, Elizabeth, Bisland. A fascinating Pot-pourri of criticism, comment, narrative, and. discussion, : Jean Christophe, by Romain Rolland. translation of four out of the ten volumes of a recent French novel that has attracted wi attention and seems to merit it. Justice, by John Galsworthy. The text of a play’ that. has been produced with, great success in England and may be read with fictional ipterest aire, by Marguerite Audoux. See fr. Ingleside, by E. V. Lucas. An infor. mal story in which we are admitted to pleas- ant company and made members of a coterie of bookworms. The New Machiavelli, by 1. G. Welk. The autobiography: of an exiled English statesman, ‘The most mature and significant of Mr. Wells’s writings. One Way Out, by “William Carleton. ‘The vivid narrative of a New England cler successful escape from an economic no-thor- oughfare. The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Le- roux. A terrible, but typical, example of where competition is carrying the “novel of adventure.” The Rosary, by Florence L, Barclay. A “perfectly fovely” piece of sentimental taffy-on-a-stick. Pure sugar and quite harm- less, but don't swallow the. stick. The Winning Fight, by Herbert Kaufman, Sparks from ‘a verbal dynamo. Collected editorials on personal efficiency. Looks Like Taft IFFORD PINCHOT says of the Re- publican candidate for 1912: First, he must have wisdom, courage, and equine devotion to the welfare of the people Second, he must be a progressive, and stand for popular government ‘Third, he must be a leader, whom the voters will follow with enthusiasm. Fourth, he must offer the party he is to lead a fair chance to win. The headline gentlemen, with some unanimity, put at the top* of the ex-For- ester’s remarks: HIS MAN SEEMS TO LOOK LIKE COLONEL ROOSEVELT, To us, now, his man looks as much like Pinchot as he does like Roosevelt, and as much like Taft as he docs like either of those others. Indefinite - HAT: trust?” “The hog trust.” “Oh, be specific!” RY {|| a MO A A MOTOR BUSS comicbooks.com