Life, 1912-12-26 · page 11 of 41
Life — December 26, 1912 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical commentary on U.S. pensions paired with three morality cartoons at top. **Top cartoons** show contrasting male fantasies ("The Young Man's Vision," "The Old Man's Dream") versus reality ("Every Man's Horror"), with the final image depicting financial ruin—a man confronting debt or bankruptcy while others watch. **Main article** discusses the pension system's unsustainable growth: over $1 billion in total pension obligations, with numbers increasing yearly (997,735 pensioners in 1901; 863,294 in 1912). The writer warns that as pensioners decrease through death, fewer people support the growing fund—an alarming prospect. They propose reducing pensions or finding alternative solutions, though acknowledge any "war expense" would pale against rising pension costs. The satire critiques pension system management during this era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE YOUNG MAN’S VISION THE OLD MAN’S DREAM Pensions CCORDING to our Pension Department we have spent for pensions, since the foundation of the Gov- ernment, something over $4,000,000,000. bout half of this sum has been paid as the result of the Civil War. We are paying more each year. Within the last twelve months, for example, we have added $20,000,000 or $30,- 000,000. (We are not sure of the exact amount, but a few million more or less do not, apparently, make much difference.) On the other hand, the pension roll has been steadily decreasing. In 1901 there were 997,735 pensioners; in 1911 there were 892,098 pensioners ; on June 30 last (1912) there were 860,204 pensioners, During the past ycar about 33,000 have died. This brings up an interesting question. As the num- ber of pensioners decreases, the pension fund increases. Consequently, what is going to happen when the num- ber of pensioners is reduced to only one man? The pros- pect is alarming. The only way out of it is to get into another war as soon as possible, for by increasing the number of pensioners, we may be able to reduce the pen- sion fund. We suggest this idea to the incoming admin- istration, Of course, the expense of a war is considerable, but it certainly would be a mere bagatelle compared with the growing pension list. “GR ar ESI Shade of first husband: 1 WARNED HIM SIX TIMES, BUT THE FOOL DOESN'T BELIEVE IN GHOSTS comicbooks.com