Life, 1912-09-26 · page 27 of 48
Life — September 26, 1912 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Illustration ("Choosing a Minister"):** Shows three men in formal dress with a woman in the center—apparently depicting a selection process for a clergyman. The satirical point is unclear from the image alone, but likely comments on patronage or nepotism in religious appointments. **Essay ("Equality"):** A sardonic piece by E.O.J. that mocks the Declaration of Independence's claim that "all men are created equal." The author argues this is obviously false—visible at a glance in human society (unlike grasshoppers, who genuinely appear identical). The essay credits the "forefather" who wrote the statement with good intentions but poor logic, suggesting he confused equality with justice. **Context:** Published during the Civil War (1863), this appears to satirize idealistic American founding principles as naive fiction, while implying actual human inequality is observable fact. The piece takes a cynical stance on egalitarian rhetoric common in the era. **Bottom Illustration ("Sinner and Saint"):** Two figures at what appears to be a doorway or gate—likely depicting moral contrast, though specific meaning is unclear.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- 1863 CHOOSING A MINISTER | Equality LL grasshoppers are created equal. This is probably not true, but it is workable hypothesis, for it requires a specialist to disprove it. To the naked eye of the casual layman all grasshoppers look the same, jump the same, live on the same kinds of food and inhabit the | same abodes. They have no “ Who’s Who” books, no carefully worked out and whitewashed genealogies, no coats of arms and no best families. The difference between grasshoppers and humans, therefore, is apparent at once. No men are created equal. This doesn't have to be proved. Everybody can see it at a glance. Long be- fore laying aside his swaddling clothes the child knows that his | mother is the best person on the face of the earth. It is a | never-ending marvel, to young and old, as they journey through life, how there can be so many people with no two alike That's what makes the statement, “ All men are created equal,” so interesting and so persistent. It is one of the , most bare-faced claims that was ever made. It is the ne plus ultra of fiction and will always be a_ best-seller, because fiction will always be popular. But we must not be harsh with the particular fore- father who was responsible for this statement. He meant Ye well, but he merely made the mistake of thinking that AUR wee equality was a prerequisite of justice. E. O. J. SINNER AND SAINT P xun | comicbooks.com