Life, 1913-01-09 · page 56 of 100
Life — January 9, 1913 — page 56: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **political cartoon satirizing George F. Baer**, a real coal magnate during the 1902 Anthracite Coal Strike crisis. The text mimics Baer's actual defense of charging exorbitant coal prices (over 200% profit margin). **The satire's targets:** - Baer's religious hypocrisy: he justifies greed by claiming divine appointment and personal moral superiority ("great man like myself") - His paternalism toward workers: addressing them as "dear brothers and sisters" while exploiting them - His circular logic: workers must pay inflated prices so Baer has "strength" to manage them - His opposition to government coal ownership, which would lower prices for ordinary citizens **The illustration** (bottom right) shows a woman entering a convent—apparently inspired by Baer's own daughter, who actually became a nun, suggesting the family benefited from coal profits while rejecting worldly concerns. The page is **pure satire**: the list of cars and their drivers is a separate joke about automobiles popular among the wealthy. The overall effect mocks Baer as a hypocrite using religious language to justify exploitation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A NEW MOTOR-CAR WITH A NEW CHAU Heart to Heart Talks With Members of His Flock BY GEORGE F, BAER, GENERAL PASTOR OF THE LEHIGH VALLEY AND OTHER CORPORATIONS, EAR Brotners ANnp S1sTers: It is a great pleasure to meet you all this morning face to face, not by divine right, as somebody has very unjustly stated, but merely because* you love me; so that you have come bere to testify your devotion, not only to myself, but to the great interests committed to my charge. Yes, dear brothers and sisters, I wish to insist that while I thoroughly believe in a heavenly Father, and that He is watching over us all—my stock- holders as well as others—at the same time there is an individual responsi- bility which I fully recognize. Every night when I go to bed I pray for strength to be able to resist the great demands made upon me by some blind people who think we are charging too much for our coal. Only by receiving this strength can I go on so steadfastly in my daily work. And yet, dear brothers and sisters, let us consider the facts for a moment, believing as we do, in eternal justice. It costs us at Scranton $1.65 for a ton of coal, and the freight charge adds fifty cents more, so that the total cost at the sea- board is $2.15. And yet what do you suppose people are saying? They say that just because we sell our coal at 34.75 per ton, or at a profit of some- thing over 200 per cent., we are rob- bing the public. Oh! my dear brothers and sisters, they don’t understand these little matters! They don’t per- ceive that a great man like myself has greater responsibilities, greater cares, than the other people with limited in- telligence who have to work with their hands. They do not perceive that it requires more to supply our needs than it does theirs; and that consequently we must charge this slight profit on our coal in order that we may have strength to fulfill all the great re- sponsibilities which have come to us. It is this strength—added to the divine strength that we receive in some measure from above—which enables a great man like myself to withstand all the terrible things that are said about me by the misguided people who are not familiar with the facts. And so it gives me a peculiar pleas- ure to see you all here to-day with your shining faces, and to realize that, although there are some who have been mistaken about me, most of you are true to me and to my interests and are ready to pay any price for coal that in my divinely appointed wisdom I may see fit to ask. Just one thing more I would like to add to my little sermon—not to bore you too much. It has been said that if our dear government should take over the coal mines it might be a good thing because the people of the United States are the actual owners of all the coal in it, and they should have the privilege of getting it at the lowest price. Dear me! How little The Cars They Used ULTON—A White Steamer. Hiawatha—A Pierce-Arrow. Bryan—A Peerless. Richard Cour de Knight. Rogers and Clark—A Columbia. Paul Revere—A Speedwell. Galileo—A Moon. Pere Marquette—A Cadillac. Scott—A Waverly. Pius IX—A_Pope-Toledo. Gladstone—A Premier. Taft—A Casi Uncle Sam—A National. Lion—A_ Silent they know! It is true that the price might be considerably lower, but there is no inspiration in government, and what would all of you do if you had this coal machine to deal with, when now you can see me and can come in contact with me, and thus be inspired to make so much more money that you can easily afford to pay me the ad- ditional price for the coal required by my supreme ability. And so, dear brothers and sisters, in dismissing you with my blessing. let us all thank God that in spite of unjust statements, I am still on the a Ke NO USE! I'LL HAVE TO ENTER A CONVENT. ANDI WANTED SO MUCH TO BE A SOCIETY LEADER LIKE MAMMA.”