Life, 1913-05-08 · page 19 of 48
Life — May 8, 1913 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon depicts a biblical scene (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refusing to worship King Nebuchadnezzar's golden idol) as satire about resisting authority and false worship. A tall figure labeled "Tariff" points commandingly while common people below refuse to bow, suggesting the tariff is an idol citizens should reject. The accompanying text by E.S. Martin discusses educating boys to please women, then satirizes a Pennsylvania bill proposing "education and certification of journalists." The satire suggests that if we start certifying journalists as professionals, we'll logically need educated lawyers, economists, and statesmen—implying this represents dangerous or absurd governmental overreach into professions previously unregulated. The piece mocks the progressive impulse to professionalize and standardize occupations through formal education.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WOODRACH, MARSHACH AND ABILLNEGO ANSWERED RE IT KNOWN UNTO THEE, 0 KING, THAT WE WILL NOT SERVE THY GODS, NOR WORSHIP THE GOLDEN IMAGE WHICH THOU HAST SET UP But provision, though very important, is not the whole story of pleasing women. The soul needs to be fed as well as the body, the imagination to be clothed as well as the back, and the affections and aspirations to get a little daily exercise. For a man to have mere dimensions is not enough. He should also have contents and be able to draw on them. It must be the aim of the classes in pleasing women not only to hand-finish the boys’ ex- ternals so that they may make a haberdashered appear- ance such as we admire in the shirt and collar advertise- ments, but to get something inside of them that will make them profitably companionable, and to get it into their heads that to give fair satisfaction to women is the most important detail of life, and that if they cannot contrive to do it they will be failures. That may sound extravagant, but it is quite true. The catechism, when it still had a pull, used to say that the chief end of man was to glorify God and enjoy him forever. But chow long can man do that without the help of woman? Just one lap, and then he goes out, leaving no one behind him to inherit his tradition Yes; to please women is mighty important, and it is well worth while to make it a specialty of public in- struction for boys. But to please men is also important, and, easy as it is, it would not be amiss for girls to give some thought to it, especially as it would make it so much easier for the boys to learn their difficult lesson. E. S. Martin. A Revolutionary Proposition HE recent bill introduced into the Pennsylvania Legis- lature, which, among other things, provides for the “education and certification of journalists,” opens up an entirely new field. If we are, in this country, to have educated journalists, where is the thing to stop? We shall soon be having educated lawyers, educated political economists and edu- cated statesmen. OPULARITY consists mainly of allowing yourself to be bored once in a while. comicbooks.com