Life, 1911-12-28 · page 7 of 41
Life — December 28, 1911 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes a well-known philanthropist (unnamed in visible text) whose increased earnings enabled expanded charitable giving. The illustration "The Phantom Ship" shows an airship observing what appears to be a shipwreck or disaster below. The accompanying "Bulletin" mocks the philanthropist's publicized charitable schedule with numbered items listing beneficiaries: children in mills, hospital wards, women in poverty, sick factory workers, and university students. The satire's target is **performative philanthropy**—the way wealthy industrialists publicized their charitable acts as moral justification for their business practices and wealth accumulation. The "phantom ship" metaphor suggests these charitable gestures are illusory or detached from actual human suffering below, critiquing the gap between publicized benevolence and systemic exploitation underlying industrial fortunes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Bulletin KNOWN PHILAN- announces that by reason of his increased earnings, the result of the greater efficiency obtained through the application of supersci tific management to conditions in his various industries, he will, until, fur- ther notice, award to the public for their non-interf his methods, benefits as listed ii following schedule: (1) For the twisted lives and pirated happiness of one thousand children (by-product of his mills), one char- THE PHANTOM SHIP ward in hospital, to be op t of medical college of ui hereinafter mentioned, (2) For the smirched character: of one thousand women, driven to the street to cke out, to the point where they can live, the skimped wages al- lowed them in his departmené stores, one library, adjunct of the university hereinafter mentioned, wherein ma ined books on leading the hi (3) For the sodden hopes and ted health of one thousand men, worn out in his factories, one scholarship, for the properly pliant. in university hereinafter mentioned. (4) For the wrecked integrity, or non-perpetuation, of one thousand familics, one university wherein will be thoroughly promulgated the policy of Let Well Enough Alone. Notz—Mr. Well Known Philan- thropist scorns, in advance, the imputa- tion that he makes the above conces- sions in order to draw attention from, or to offset the activities of, certain sceming tendencies of the times. His offers are prompted by purely philan- thropic impulses. Further, he holds that it were to show bad taste to question his motives. comicbooks.com