Life, 1912-08-15 · page 17 of 40
Life — August 15, 1912 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical biographical sketches of prominent figures and a moral fable. **"The Aged in Counsel, the Young in Action"** illustration depicts two seated gentlemen (likely representing establishment figures) while a younger person acts energetically in the background—visually representing the tension between conservative wisdom and youthful action. **The biographical section** mockingly profiles public figures including Emperor William II (portrayed as losing autonomy to socialist/syndicalist forces), Henri Bergson (a French philosopher dismissed as creating "revolution in unimportant thought circles"), William McAdoo (Hudson Tubes official), Andrew Carnegie (philanthropist), John D. Rockefeller (wealthy industrialist), and Frank Munsey (political operative and Roosevelt associate). **"The New Aesop"** retells the tortoise-and-hare fable with modern cynicism: the tortoise and hare conspire together to defraud the fox through a fixed race, then split the winnings. The moral: modern betting is unreliable because participants engage in corruption. The page exemplifies Life's early-1900s approach: mixing social commentary, wealthy-person satire, and morality-subverting humor to critique American power structures and ethics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
\ | Vacation ING a song of August, When poor toiling man Takes a short vacation On the least he can. Spends a week in getting Rested up a bil Then works more than ever Making up for it. : George B. Staff. Confidential Guide to Prominent People STRACHAN, GRACE. public school teacher who w tren in getting equal pay for women t A popular movement to and the recipient of a large sum by pop subscription, thr 0 be her und She has our sincere EMPEROR WILLIAM, Made in young man in the prime of Ii in ‘reet utterances have given him in- ternational reputation, Was at one time a free agent, working by divine right, but is now in the combined grip of the soc and the syndicalists. Known as a king. lists med THE AGED IN Cou SEL, THE YOU. RGSON, HENRI.—The latest philosophi: ‘al favorite, this Frenchman has captivated the literary world by his lucid treatment of things that nobody wants to know about, He has created a revolution in unimportant thought circles McADOO, W. G.—The mar sible for the Hudson tubes, through which the inhabitants of New Jersey are gradu: becom lized. “Mr. McAd art the idea that the benefit of the ANDREW.—This ge his best friend— y dollar—and_ spends g it away, Also Said to be the in’ this w A recent sti- Rockefeller's wealth in at nine hundred millions Since this estimate has been ever, Mr. Rockefeller through his attorneys, in get n hundred dollars in a rebate on his ould be < AA prominent politi nd President boomer, who happens at the present moment to be a friend of Theodore Roosevelt. and whose term of likely to end at any time. Is now ng list of Ananias Club. ACTION” The New Aesop OYE aay, in the presence of the the Tortoise was bragging to the Hare of his ability as a runne The toise’s x was very derisive of the Tor- pretensions, whereupon the Tortoise, winking at the Hare, offered to bet the Fox a considerable sum of money that he could outrun the Hare The Fox lost no time in putting up the money, and off the contestants started. The Hare took a big lead at once, but, after getting comfortably out of sight, from the tr; and fell asleep. The Tortoise accordingly was the first to reach the winning post The Fox went off cursing at the loss of his money, and when he had gone the Tortoise divided his winnings with the Hare. Ever since that time bet- ting on races has been an uncertain sport, ndered awa comicbooks.com