Life, 1913-01-09 · page 54 of 100
Life — January 9, 1913 — page 54: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several satirical pieces typical of early 20th-century American humor: **"Favorite Games"** is a tongue-in-cheek list matching professions to card/parlor games—suggesting doctors play "Patience," suffragettes play "Slam," etc. The humor relies on stereotypes about each group's character. **"Easily Located"** is a brief joke about addressing a letter to a corrupt New York politician "care of the Tombs" (the city's jail), implying government officials inevitably end up incarcerated. **"Taxing Bachelors"** responds to Prussian tax policy by arguing America already effectively taxes unmarried men—through high cost of living that makes marriage unaffordable. The satire critiques both excessive taxation and American economic inequality, suggesting the outcome is the same whether intentional (Prussia) or accidental (America). The illustrations include "The Fulmoor" (unclear reference) and "Old Schoolmates" showing class disparities.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Favorite Games Pawn brokers - - - = Hockey Doctors - - - - = Patience Swimmers - - Pool Sailors. - = - Rum Suffragettes - Slam Bridge Hairdressers - - - Curling Old maids - - + Twenty-one Young maids - 2 8 Brooklynites - s Solitaire Janitors ~~ - Freeze-out Dancers + - Shufile-board Conductors - - + + Faro Bankers - - - = - Draught Subway passengers - - Squash Easily Located A SSISTANT: What's the address of this New Yorker? Eprtor: You mean the one who has some position there in the local government? “Yes,” Address him care of the Tombs. all right.” It will reach him THE PULMOTOR OLD SCHOOLMATES THE DUNCE AND THE STAR PUPIL Taxing Bachelors PATCHES from Berlin state that a tax on bach- clors from 10 per cent. to 20 per cent. will become a law in Prussia in the near future. This scems to our enlightened methods over here in America to be a crude and dry-as-dust method of doing things. In this country we encourage bachelors in other ways. We make the cost of living so high that they cannot afford to get married. That is to say, we not only keep them from getting married, but we make them pay for it in the bargain. There is no escape. Suppose for instance that we put a tax of 20 per cent. on all bachelors, would the fact that this tax was removable in case they were married make any difference? Well, hardly.