Life, 1911-09-14 · page 17 of 46
Life — September 14, 1911 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical page critiques early 20th-century social and political issues: **"Mother Up to Date"** mocks women's expanding public roles—driving cars, playing bridge, attending political caucuses, and running for Senate. The poem sarcastically celebrates mothers abandoning traditional domestic duties for modern civic participation, reflecting anxiety about women's suffrage and political involvement. **"Who Will Do It?"** satirizes the Aldrich banking scheme (a 1908 proposed central bank). It jokes that New York bankers vouching for their own bank scheme is circular logic—asking criminals to vouch for themselves. The wit: who will guarantee the bankers' trustworthiness? **"An Excited Editor"** mocks a Chicago newspaper's extremism, citing its proposal to eliminate all urban dogs and cats as "degrading influences" on children. The response argues humans cause far more disease and mayhem than animals—a rebuke of the paper's absurd logic. **"Steel" and "Leisure Day"** critique trusts and labor conditions, sarcastically suggesting "Leisure Day" (unpaid time off) for unemployed workers receiving only charity and pity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Mother Up to Date HO scorns a lazy limousine? Who oils and cranks her own ma- chine? Who knows the price of gasoline? My mother. Who plays bridge till her forehead aches? Who gives me points on no-trump makes? Who shows me how to p My mother e my stakes? Who stays out late on caucus night? Who tells me of the ward's great fight And how to mark my ballot right? My mother. Who wields a gavel without fear? Who mounts the rostrum far and nea: Who runs for Senator next year? My mother! Who Will Do It? New York bankers have again vouched for the Aldrich central bank scheme. In view of the revelations of the past few years, there is need for vouchers for the New York bankers.—Troy (N. Y.) Bud- get. HAT is precisely the point. W hardly willing to turn over United States to them they offer a little better security. will volunteer to underwrite the ers? are the until Who bank- Treasury An Excited Editor I it possible that the torrid summer has affected the thinking boxes of the Chicago American? Dogs and cats should be eliminated in the cities at once and as rapidly as possible in the country. They are dan- yerous and out of date; their usefulness is gone. They spread disease. Dogs, as every educator knows, even havi degrading influence on the minds of children!!! Whoever destroys a dog or a cat in this day performs a good action, your feet on the ground, brother. Had a dog or a cat written in) such a manner about humans there would have been far more sense in it. When it comes to varieties of outrage and murder, and to spread- ing disease, the dog and the cat have much to learn from the two-legged brute, Keep Deere lies INS “Less MY I'D FORGOTTEN SOMETHING.” Steel OW that the Steel Trust has been muck-raked fore and aft, officially investigated from mince to dividends, scrutinized from employee to stockholder, analyzed, digested and tabulated, we arc gratified to observe that the price of steel rails is still $28 a ton in this country and about a third less than that abroad. Let us proceed forthwith to regulate the rest of the trusts. Leisure Day * W now have Labor Day, formally set aside, upon which laboring men who have jobs are supposed to dig- nify themselves and their status by tak- ing a day off without pay It is all right, Just how much dignity is accumulated on the first Monday in September would be hard to say, but an NOW, THEN, FORK OVER VER POCKET-nOOK !"" SOUL! IM GLAD Ye MENTIONED IT, 1 KNEW extra day off for those who are doomed to incessant toil is none too much. To complete the scheme, however, we should appoint another day. By analogy we should call it Leisure Day and it should be devoted to the interests of the laboring men who have no jobs, but who are doomed to incessant idleness with all its unpleasant appendages of charity, thy and prying students of sociol- ogy. On that day the Government should provide light work, with pay, for all those who may wish to indulge. A few orators might even be provided to flatter these people upon their important func- tion in prosperity in that their competi- tion keeps down the price of labor. E. 0. J. sym LASKA makes the capitalist heart grow fonder. comicbooks.com