Life, 1911-06-08 · page 20 of 44
Life — June 8, 1911 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes reactions to a major Supreme Court ruling against Standard Oil (the 1911 antitrust decision). The cartoon "Enough to Make a Dog Laugh" mocks how various American institutions responded to the decision with predictable hypocrisy or indifference. The satire targets: - **Business**: Claims to support the ruling while continuing dishonest practices - **Washington**: Refuses to commit, claiming the decision is too complex to understand - **Wall Street**: Celebrates while profiting anyway (volume increased) - **Boston**: Pretends moral interest but focuses on intellectual difficulty - **Society**: Admits complete ignorance, too preoccupied with elite social events (Coronation, Newport season) The joke is that each group gives self-serving, evasive responses rather than genuine reactions. The cartoon suggests the ruling will change nothing—institutions will continue as before while offering sanctimonious justifications. The "dog laughing" title implies the responses are laughably transparent.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1120 them, and if you don’t lose the check you get your hat back. The services of these boys are not valuable, and if they were there would not be much point in tipping them, because all their tips Ko to the hat-tip trust, which pays the hotel for the privilege of dealing with the hats. Still, from force of habit and a sense of obligation, which is not very logical, you continue to pay over occasional dimes and nickels to those boys. Now is not that a mean little skin! The paper says—the MWorld—that the two men who organized the hat-tip trust make $100,000 a year out of it, and pay for their hotel privileges from $5,000 a year up. Of course, people do not conduct New York hotels and restau- rants for their health, but the hat-tip trust makes one swear, because it is so petty and because it has substituted a bad organized service for a good per- sonal service Enough to Make a Dog Laugh Interviews on the Trust Decision E have secured the following high- ly helpful and illuminating inter- views on the decision of the Supreme Court in the Standard Oil cases: Business was seen on Wednesday. “Yes,” said Business, “the decision is very satisfactory to Business, Now honest Business can go ahead and dis- honest Business can keep ahead.” Washington wes reached over the long distance ‘phone and was rather non-committal. “Washington,” said Washington, “prefers not to go on rec- ord until it has had ample opportunity to digest the decision carefully word by word. Inasmuch, therefore, as the de- cision is very indigestible, you will see that Washington will not be ready with its conclusions for several weeks.” Wall Street was seen just before the opening on Thursday. “ Wall Street,” said Wall Strcet enthusiastically, “is ee simply elated. That is easily inferred, of course, from the immense volume of business Wall Street did on the follow- ing day. Boston replied by letter. “ Boston,” said Boston's letter, “is not particu- larly interested in the mere material side of the controversy, but you may put Boston down as having enjoyed very much the privilege of reading the decision, not only because it was hard reading, but because of the many rever- ential classical allusions to the way our forefathers, both here and abroad, did things.” Society was seen on its regular at- home day. When asked its opinion of the decision, Society said: “I hadn't heard anything about it. I have really been so busy with the Coronation and the opening of the Newport season that I haven't had a minute to spare. I dare say, however, that it is a very nice decision.” Ellis O. Jones.