Life, 1912-06-20 · page 15 of 44
Life — June 20, 1912 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two editorial cartoons and commentary satirizing early 20th-century social issues. **"Elopements"** depicts romantic entanglements through crude caricatures of types involved in scandalous relationships—appearing to mock sensationalist media coverage of affairs and runaway couples. **"Children Are Cheap"** is the page's sharp political critique. It attacks medical researchers who test experimental serums (particularly tuberculosis treatments) on vulnerable children—orphans and hospitalized poor children whose parents cannot protect them. The text sarcastically notes that such "discoveries" are frequent yet rarely produce results. Life's editors argue this represents a moral descent from traditional family doctors to exploitative "serum fiends." The satire targets both unethical medical experimentation and society's willingness to sacrifice powerless children in the name of scientific progress. This reflects genuine Progressive Era concerns about medical ethics and vulnerable populations. The poems and brief mentions of composite plays appear supplementary to these core critiques.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
S/ B= = tt eramsyoSS yy The Fire of Love T leaps, it whirls, it dances, It riots, seethes and swings, But, oh, the magic music Of the melody it sings! » flies and rises, Ils both hope and aim; But, oh, the utter yearning For its mad, enticing flame! It burns, it scars, it scorches. It waves now high, now low; But, oh, the subtle summons Of its golden, golden glow! It shines, it writhes, it It blasts, it wounds, it slays. But, ob, the hunger, hunger, For the glory of its blaze! Leolyn Louise Everett, VERY age is a Utopia to the one that precedes it and barbarism to the one that follows. Children Are Cheap SPECIAL dispatch in the New York World of May 20 told us: A serum which its discoverer be- lieves gives immunity to tuberculosis is announced in Chicago. The dis- coverer is_an American scientist, Dr. Karl Vonruck, of Asheville, North Carolina. This is good news. It might create more excitement, of course, if such discoveries were not so frequent. The Rockefeller Insti- tute, for instance, makes a specialty of these announcements. They are so seldom heard from afterwards, however, that the public has ceased to “rise.” The MWorld dispatch says further: Experiments made upon children and counter-experiments made upon animals are said to have demon- strated the value of the discovery. Upon whose children? Orphans? Children in hospitals? Children whose parents are powerless to protect them against these criminal violations of faith, of duty and of professional honor? Verily, ‘tis a long descent from the old-fashioned, kindly family doctor to the twentieth century serum fiend! COMPOSITE PLAYS “THE WINSOME WIDOW" AND “THE TALKER” comicbooks.com