Life, 1911-09-14 · page 38 of 46
Life — September 14, 1911 — page 38: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily an **advertisement** for Ainslee's magazine (October issue), not a political cartoon. The page uses satirical commentary to promote Ainslee's by contrasting itself with competitors. The text mocks the **tariff system on imported woolens**—a real contemporary economic issue. Life's editors humorously calculate that Americans pay duty on wool that shrinks away after washing, equivalent to enough fabric to stretch from New York to San Francisco. They sarcastically ask "Who IS getting it?"—implying corrupt politicians or manufacturers benefit from tariffs while consumers lose value. The satire's point: Life engages in hard-hitting "muck-raking" journalism (investigative exposés), while Ainslee's is "merely entertaining." This positions Life as serious social commentary versus Ainslee's as lightweight fiction. The ad lists Ainslee's October contents: a Western novel, novelettes, and short stories to establish its literary credibility against Life's implicit criticism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
There’s Nothing Like This in Ainslee’s: YOU are paying an enormous duty on wn- shrunken woolens. When they have been washed a few times they shrink at least two inches. Assuming that 84,000,000 of the 90,000,000 people in the United States wear woolens, there must be a total shrinkage for the country at large of 168,000,000 inches, or 14,000,000 feet, or over 2,650 miles. Do you realize what this means to YOU? It means that you are paying duty on enough woolen that you haven't got to reach from New York to San Francisco. Where does it go? That’s what we want to know—Who IS getting it? So much for “uplift."". We just wanted to show you what we could do in the muck-raking line if we wanted to. The October Ainslee’s is merely entertaining and really entertaining. THE COMPLETE NOVEL in this number is a fascinating Western romance by Izola Forrester H. F. Prevost Battersby and Thomas Addison contribute novelettes of distinction. These, with the many short stories from such writers as Alice Mac- Gowan, Frank Condon, Margaretta Tuttle, Nalbro Bartley, James Oliver Curwood, Rina Ramsay, Sam- uel Gordon and Anna Alice Chapin make a number of Ainslee’s that is as unusual as usual. AINSLEE’S FOR OCTOBER Sold wherever magazines are read—Read wherever magazines are sold Fifteen Cents the Copy comicbook Meum