Life, 1912-01-04 · page 69 of 108
Life — January 4, 1912 — page 69: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The page contains two satirical pieces by Deems Taylor: **Top cartoon ("Speed!")** depicts various vehicles racing—likely mocking the era's obsession with speed and modern transportation competition. **Bottom cartoon ("Little Daughter of Politician")** shows a young girl asking her mother if "everybody here in favor of God?" at what appears to be a political gathering. The satire targets politicians' opportunistic invocation of religious sentiment for political gain. The "little daughter" naively exposes the hypocrisy: politicians publicly perform piety and moral virtue while their actual motivations are partisan and self-interested. This reflects early 20th-century skepticism about politicians' cynical exploitation of religious language for electoral advantage. The accompanying poem contrasts a struggling poet motivated by artistic expression versus an acclaimed author cynically motivated by payment rates—similarly exposing gap between public claims and private incentives.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Urge WATCHED the rimester ply his craft— Poor, futile verses, simply made To please an idle few, who laughed And then forgot—a thankless trade. “Why do you write these trifling rimes?” Half wistfully he smiled. Said he: “I wonder! Well, I think, sometimes, Because this stuff expresses—me.” Awestruck, o’ercome, I stood beside The mighty one, whose giant pen Had written epics that would bide Forever in the hearts of men. “Why, master, has thy soul been stirred To voice in song thy people's woes?" “ Because, my son, the rate per word For verse is higher than for prose.” Deems Taylor. Little Daughter of Politician: MoTHER, 18 EVERYBODY MERE 1N FAVOR OP Gop?