Life, 1911-09-21 · page 17 of 52
Life — September 21, 1911 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes Dr. Harvey Wiley's Pure Food and Drug Administration investigations of the early 1900s. The headline mocks a fictional "Husbands' Correspondence Bureau" supposedly under Senate investigation—a humorous stand-in for real food and product manufacturers facing Wiley's scrutiny. The "testimonials" parody Wiley's expose of food adulteration. Signatories like "T. Catsup," "Bakery Cake," and "V. Maple Syrup" are personified foods thanking "Dr. Wiley" for removing harmful additives (benzoate, formaldehyde, etc.). The joke inverts reality: instead of condemning manufacturers, these fake testimonials present Wiley's reforms as beneficial to the products themselves. The cartoons show domestic scenes, likely commenting on marital discord—the "Bureau's" supposed specialty. The satire defends commercial interests against what Life considered excessive government regulation of American business and consumer goods.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- 471 Dastardly Attempt Thwarted Husbands’ Correspondence Bureau Indicted and in Lengthy Paper Called to Appear Before Senate In- vestigating Committee—Where the Attack Originated —Conspiracy Promptly Nailed—No Further Trouble Likely HE report that this Bureau bas been up before the Sen- ate Investigating Committce is perfectly true; but that we have issued triumphantly from the ordeal is not so gen- crally known, owing to the methods of suppression indulged in by the press, which is, of course, unfavorable to us. Our customers, who ma: © noticed that no mention of us is rarely made in the daily press, know too weil the rea- son. We never advertise. Happy husbands all over the coun- iry, who owe their domestic comfort—to say nothing of un- alloyed pleasure—to this Bureau, are our own best advertise- ment. Immediately upon our return from our recent trip abroad —where we visited King George during the coronation and went the rounds of some of our customers among the well “SUCK MARDER, BOSSY. I'M BLOWIN’ AS HaKD as 1 CAN” known kings of Europe—we were served with indictment pa- pers, which stated in effect that we were engaged in conduct- A Few Unsubmitted Testimonials ing a monopoly in restraint of marital affection. What pains us most, however, is the knowledge that our EAR DR. WILEY: For years and years I suffered from deposits of benzoate of soda, salicylic acid, and a ram- pant assortment of bacilli. One trial treatment of your cx- cellent Official Order and I got immediate relief. I cannot recommend your remedy too highly. T. Carser, Dear, dear Dr. Wiley: For many years I was afilicted with trouble in my interior. I was filled with stale eggs and for maldehyde, to say nothing of being covered with glucy stuff that was misdiagnosed as icing. Some kind friend called in one of your agents and since then I have been restored to my proper condition. Bakery Cane My dear Dr. Wiley: I write to express the thanks of my- self and companions for your beneficial treatment. We s fered very much from deposits of verdigris and other things, and our complexions were a pale, unhealthy green. We had such a poor flavor that we tasted bad to ourselves. One of your assistants looked at us one day and since then our con- dition has been relieved, I can tell you. The whole cucumber patch, we understand, is giving three cheers for good old Dr Wiley. Q. Kesture Prewut Dear Dr. Wiley: Before your unrivaled system of treat ment was introduced in our community I was compelled to stand on a shelf beside a lot of upstarts that wore the same kind of clothes and claimed to belong to my family. I am of the old Vermont maple family and we are proud of our de scent. Our family trce amounts to something. These i truders traced their family back to corn cobs, hickory chips, carboys of chemicals and glucose barrels. Every time they claimed to belong to the maple syrup family I almost curdled in the bottle. Now they have new clothes on; their labels tell “WELL, ELSIE, AND MOW DO YOU LIKE YoUR NEW just what they are, I cannot thank you too much for re- Littne, sister?” storing me to my proper social pre-eminence. “WHY, SHE SEEMS RATHER DISAGREEABLE, BUT DON'T V. Marie Syrvr YOU THINK 17’S A MISTAKE TO JUDGE T00 MasTILY ?” comicbooks.com