Life, 1912-08-22 · page 14 of 44
Life — August 22, 1912 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical page critiques wealthy collectors who accumulate art and objects indiscriminately. The essay argues that "magnates" (wealthy industrialists) are merely collectors, not true connoisseurs—they accumulate without understanding. The text defends this behavior as natural, comparing a businessman collecting paintings to a lawyer collecting legal documents. The cartoon below depicts a telephone conversation between a woman and man. The woman asks "Is this John 23?" while the man (labeled "Dick 67") responds "No! So! This is Dick 67. Ring off." The joke appears to be about mistaken identity or phone number confusion—a relatable early-telephone-era mishap, though the specific reference is unclear without additional context.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1634 -LIFE- An Easy Transition EOPLE are wont to ridicule the custom of our miilion- res in making collections of objects of art, lite ture, ete, after the ¢ practically retired from the routine wealth-gathering These ridiculers do not understand the © ential psy- ates. The word " magnate” chology of the mag is a syno- nym of the word “collector.” Magnates do not produce, collect. It is plebian to produce. They collect build- sites, mills, mines, factories, railroads and banks; most anything, in fact, that some one has hustled to discover or claborate. After a railroad is fairly promoted, built and put int a running order by expert engineers and other carly risers, a magnate comes along and adds it to his collection. It is just as natural, therefore, for Morgan to have the finest collections of paintings, china, books and it is for him to have the finest ¢ corporations, lawyers. lez other shay doove lection rs and newspaper and magazine editors. He is the greatest collector of all ages. Ninety odd million people, in this country alone, are hard at work in the hope that what they make will he worthy of being added to Morgan's collections, or, failing that, to the collection of some lesser light “among those present.” EO. J. HAT’S meat for the goose is meat for the propa- ganda, “Is THIs JOHN 23?" Mr, “WEL IRONED OUT. HI; COULDN'T YOU LOVE ME JUST A LITTLI R—PERHAPS—1F YOU HAD YOUR—ER—PACE “No! NO! THIS IS DICK 67. RING OFF.” comicbookMeon