Life — October 19, 1911 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Life Magazine Page Analysis This page satirizes American cities through exaggerated comparison. The "Hail, Boston!" section mocks Boston's intellectual pretensions, portraying it as arrogantly superior while claiming to represent culture for the entire nation. The illustration shows a caricatured Boston woman in stereotypical dress. "The Perfect City" lists statistics humorously suggesting Boston exceeds other major cities (Athens, Paris, China) in various metrics—a joke about provincial boasting. "An Ethicless City" critiques Des Moines, Iowa for establishing a farmers' market that undercut local prices. The satire suggests Des Moines engages in unethical price-fixing while claiming economic virtue—hypocrisy the text explicitly labels beyond "the ethical pale." The page generally mocks American regional vanity and moral self-deception.