Life, 1911-07-27 · page 16 of 40
Life — July 27, 1911 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
## "The Reserve Association" This article attacks Senator Nelson Aldrich's proposed Federal Reserve system as a disguised scheme to hand control of U.S. Treasury funds to Wall Street bankers. The satire mocks Aldrich for needing to obscure the operation's true nature—calling it an "association" rather than a "bank" or "corporation"—because Americans had negative historical experiences with both institutions. The cartoons show money being siphoned away and a child learning to accept this theft as normal ("you'll get used to it"), suggesting the public is being conditioned to accept financial manipulation. ## "That Silver Wedding" This criticizes President Taft's formal silver wedding celebration as vulgar—particularly his solicitation of valuable gifts from wealthy donors. The satire notes this contradicts old upper-class norms against giving expensive presents to the rich. The implication: America's new imperial status has corrupted traditional manners. ## Bottom Cartoon An unrelated joke about a teacher asking a student Ohio's capital; the student answers "Jack Johnson" (the famous Black boxer), conflating geography with celebrity.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HE PAB ° The Reserve Association HEN Senator Aldrich was greas- ing the plank to slide the con- tents of the United States Treasury into the pockets of Wall Strect, we can imagine that not the least of his worry came in devising a suitable name for the operation. It is a bank, but to call it a bank would not be safe. We have had one classical experience with a United States bank, in which the United States was a silent partner with a majority in- terest. The literature on this subject is readily available and is known to have affected the public inflammably. It is also a corporation of the trust variety, in that it puts the entire mone- tary machinery of the country in the hands of a single group of stockholders But it wouldn't do to call it a company wae or a corporation. The Supreme Court “witoa, Boy, You'LL GET USED 70 17” has been too busy on corporations the past few years to make them a popular- ly palatable pill. For obvious reasons it could not be called Aldrich’s Private Graft, or the Treasury Looters’ Club. We can imagine Mr. Aldrich, awa ing perhaps from a sound sleep, wi the happy thought of calling it an asso- ciation. Association is a kind of nice. friendly, co-operative, innocuous word which neither suggests piracy nor con jures up bitter recollections. Now, then, what kind of association? Several sleepless nights were undoubt- edly passed on that part of the pro gramme. And finally Reserve Associa tion was hit upon. A happy thought! 2 Reserve suggests something cautiously Mv! WHAT A DIFFERES virtuous and forchanded, something that will always be there when it is wanted, something that we can fall back Not Tit PRoPEk Way 70 upon, something that will be safe, sound BRING UP A CHILD and salutary, No. Let us not object to the name Senator Aldrich may be a perfectly plutocratic poiitical per son, but as a fashioner of appellations, he is O. K. E. O. Jones. “THERE GOES THAT MISS GRUBB WE USED TO KNOW SOME MONTHS AGO.” CE PINE CLOTHES MAKE!" That Silver Wedding T would be hard to determine whether it was more vulgar for President Taft to have a formal silver wedding ccle- bration, which was an invitation for people to send in cart- loads of valuable provender, than it was for the people to respond. The San Francisco Argonaut says: “It used to be tradition among well-bred people that to give valuable presents to those who are rich was a vulgarity The tradition still persists, no doubt, among well-bred peo- but now that we are a world power and the greatest financial empire of the civilized globe, well-bred people are SHADES OF COLUMBUS! in the hopeless minority. acher: WHAT 18 THE CAPITAL OF OM10? THINK cAKE- PULLY; 17 WAS NAMED AFTER ONE OF THE GREATEST MEN THAT to be bigoted, because there are so many well-en- VER LIVED. trenched authorities to back you up. “ Jack Jounson.” comicbookare tor