Life, 1913-01-23 · page 24 of 40
Life — January 23, 1913 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a satirical poem criticizing American railroad companies and their management practices. The top photograph shows what appears to be wealthy railroad executives dining, illustrating the luxury enjoyed by industry leaders. "The Man With the Road" attacks railroads as financially corrupt institutions. The poem accuses railroad magnates of: - Over-capitalization and watered stock ("weight of dividends") - Internal corruption and graft - Unsafe infrastructure (loose spikes, rotten ties, faulty rails, flimsy cars) - Prioritizing profit over public safety and welfare - treating the railroad as a "greedy gambler's toy" rather than a public trust The satirical thrust questions whether railroad executives can reform themselves or whether they will continue plundering the system they control. The illustration of lovers provides ironic contrast to this critique of greed and mismanagement. This reflects Progressive Era concerns about railroad monopolies and safety scandals common in early 20th-century American social commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
EDUCATIONAL PREPARING FOR LIFE’S BATTLE The Man With the Road Dedicated to Your Favorite Railroad OWED with the weight of dividends it groans And creaks and puffs and wheezes o’er the ground, Vast overcapital’zation on its face And, back behind, a mass of inside graft Who made it such an inefficient thin; A thing that charges much but little gives, Fragile and frail, a foe to life and limb? Who loosened up those spikes that firmed the track? Who is to blame for all those rotten ties? Whose hand laid down those weak and faulty rails? Whose hand sends out those flimsy wooden cars? Is this the thing the good Lord God ordained To transport human beings o’er the land? O magnates, financiers and railroad men, Is this the way you execute your trust, By robbing what is given to your care? How will you straighten up this needful thing, Which you have made a greedy gambler’s toy; How consecrate it to the public use And save it from the money-grabbers’ clutch; How make it safe in bridge and car and rail And cure it from the years of plundering? E. 0. J. “ALL THE WORLD LOVES A LOVER” comicbooks.com