Life, 1911-05-04 · page 17 of 56
Life — May 4, 1911 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical cartoon contrasts two types of "travel." An elegantly dressed woman boasts of circling the globe six times—150,000 miles of leisure travel. A man responds that he commutes between New York and Stamford every weekday for 23 years, totaling 462,300 miles. The joke's punch line: his mundane commute actually covers *more* distance than her glamorous world touring. The man's shocked reaction ("Great Scott!") and hurried departure suggest he's been humbled by this calculation. The satire targets the pretentiousness of leisure travelers who view regular commuting as unstylish drudgery, while overlooking that daily work travel accumulates far greater mileage. It's a commentary on class perspective and what counts as "real" travel in early 20th-century America.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
She: He: She: MORE? Sarl YON) Vi ARP YOU FOND OF TRAVEL? 1 THINK 1 MUST BF. BY bby yy byes} awa: V'VE CIRCLED THE GLOBE SIX TIMES—A MATTER OF 150,000 MILFS—THINK OF IT! 1 SUPPOSE YOU HAVE TRAVELED He: YES—NEW YORK AND STAMFORD—EVERY WEEK DAY—23 YEARS—A MATTER OF 462,300 MILES—JUST THINK—Great Scott! (Snaps his watch and runs.) Note by Editor—New York to Stamford, 334 miles x 2 x 300 X 23 is 462,300. comicbooks.com