Life, 1912-01-04 · page 18 of 108
Life — January 4, 1912 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This poem by Roscoe Gilmore Stott satirizes wealthy industrialists and plutocrats of the early 20th century. The "man with the dough" is a wealthy businessman, depicted as spiritually and morally dead despite material success—"bowed by the weight of watered stocks" (fraudulent investments). The satire targets corporate greed and corruption: the figure owns vast wealth yet the common people suffer "plundered, cast-off, and disinherited." References to "Mitchell" (likely J.P. Morgan associate) and "Gompers's clan" (labor leader Samuel Gompers) highlight class conflict. The poem accuses politicians—"Senate, House and Bosses"—of complicity, asking how they'll reckon with this corrupt plutocrat when "Interstate Commissions break their sleep" and he faces court. It's Progressive Era criticism of robber barons, corrupt government, and labor exploitation, written in mock-heroic style echoing Millet and Markham's depictions of suffering workers—but inverted to condemn the wealthy oppressor instead.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Man with the Dough (Confessing a certain indebtedness to both Millet and Markham) Bowed by the weight of watered stocks he Icans Upon his foe and gazes on the hound, The emptiness of ages in his face, And on his back the best clothes in the world. Who made him dead to pleading and despair, A thing that grieves not and that never blinks, Measly and mean, a brother to the fox? Who loosened and pushed out his grasping paw? Whose were the words that slanted back his brow? Whose breath blew out the light within this brain? Is this the Thing the Lord God made and gave To have first-mortgage on the land and sea; To buy the stars and search the heavens for more; To feel inclined to buy Eternity? Is this the one who dreamed he owned the suns And placed “ For Rent” upon the ancient deep? is the product of careful grain selection, Dowaijalltheiatretehiof U. 8: 1oitts Galf BE Spe ye gonye “ge, tae There is no gold more powerful than his— scientific distilling, perfect purification More slammed with censure by a world in need— and honest aging. More cursed with oaths so harmful to the soul— Original bottling has old gold label GEO. A. DICKEL & CO., Distillers Nashville, Tena, More fraught with menace to the universe. What fights between him and the common herd! Holding the wheel of labor, what to him Are Mitchell and the threats of Gompers’s clan? What the long reaches of the queens of song, A two-plunk seat, or e’en a dime cigar? On his large shape the suffering millions look; From George I. to George V. g Time's tragedy is in his awful scoop; Through his vast greed humanity dismayed, Plundered, cast-off, and disinherited, Cries protest through the Socialists they know, has known but One Quality--- The Best A protest that is merely tommyrot. O Senate, House and Bosses in all States Is this the plutocrat you think should live, This mammoth pig thus roasted and muck-raked? How will you straighten up his hated name; Toast him again in bottles he has bought; Give back the colleges his wad supplied; Rebuild the library that meant his check; Make right the immemorial petty grafts, Perfidious votes, immeasurable wires? O Senate, House and Bosses in all States, How will the Congress reckon with this Man? How manage his shrewd lobby in that hour When Interstate Commissions break their sleep? How will it be with grafters and with graft— With those who put him in the shape he is— When this shy rascal shall be called to court After the silence that he thought would last? Roscoe Gilmore Stott. BLUE AND SILVER LABEL Messrs. Martell & Co. have been appointed to supply Brandy to the House of Lords HOUSE EST, 1715 Sole Agents: G. S. NICHOLAS & CO. New York FENNNASNNAKNNSNSASSNNNNNNNSNNANNNS aSANNAANNNSSSENSERAE NSS ESS LNNNANNAANNAANANKNANANNNNANN NAN NNANNNNN NAAN: