Life, 1912-05-02 · page 29 of 58
Life — May 2, 1912 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains several satirical pieces critiquing American society and politics: **"After the Titanic—What?"** The main article argues the ship's disaster reveals systemic moral failure—victims were sacrificed to commercialism and greed. The accompanying illustration shows wolves feasting, sarcastically captioned "sharp-tooth," equating wealthy society to predators. **"Moving Pictures"** cartoon mocks commercial interests controlling government, via dialogue about coal mine regulation. **"Life's Presidential Candidate"** is heavy irony. The text presents William Howard Taft as presidential material, but the backhanded "compliments" are devastating: he makes mistakes he won't fix (only apologize), loves courts/judges obsessively, and gives long speeches nobody listens to. The satire suggests Taft is unfit—a puppet of judicial/commercial interests rather than a leader serving the public. The page overall criticizes wealthy elites' indifference to human welfare and their control of government.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
After the Titanic—What ? T' greatest disaster of modern times not only contains every ele- sent of a supreme tragedy, but it is re than all this—it is the most sor- owful arraignment of our modern civilization that could be compressed ‘0 two hours of suspense and death. The victims of the disaster were vic- ms of commercialism, run mad in a riot of silly luxury. Underneath it Il lay the monster Greed, mockingly ifferent to the most ordinary pre- jons ingenuity of countless minds | gone to make the Titanic the Great Thing that it was, while the rere chance of a moment—in which a hand moving to give a signal con- trolled the solute fate of so many hundreds—ruled capriciously. To gamble with human lives on a chance like this is not so much a crime of individuals, as of a whole race. It is as though by a flash we had sud- denly seen ourselves in our true light. & ON’T you think the coal mines ought to be controlled by the Government?” “TL might if I didn’t know who con- trolled the Government.” MOVING PICTURES we gerlloet YOU'D BETTER HURRY AND PAINT YOUR FACE, SHARP- TOOTH. THIS FEAST AT THE STRONG-ARMS’ TO-NIGHT 15 A FULL DRESS AFFAIR Life’s Presidential Candidate E beg leave to present the name of Mr. William Howard Taft for the Presidency in 1912. Here is one of the few men who are not only willing buc anxious to accept this great responsibility. He is so anxious that he will take long trips and make long speeches regardless of whether any one is listening to him or not. He is conscientious and a devotee of baseball. If he makes mistakes, he may not be willing to rectify them, but he is willing to apologize. We need a man in the Presidential chair who loves courts and loves judges. Mr. Taft loves both of these things from the bottom of his heart. They typify his ideals on earth of what we may expect to meet afterward in Heaven under a just God hat is a great deal. This man should be carefully considered. THE HAUIT comicbooks.com