Life, 1913-07-03 · page 29 of 48
Life — July 3, 1913 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical fable mocks progressive-era reform efforts and regulatory commissions. A Chief Fox—representing a reform-minded politician or regulator—responds to complaints from barnyard fowls (ordinary citizens) about foxes (predatory interests) by appointing a committee of foxes to investigate predation. The committee manipulates the process by segregating complaining witnesses from meek ones, then holds a banquet featuring the vocal complainants as the meal. Their report dismisses the problem as solved, caused only by "malcontents" now satisfied. The satire targets how industries or corrupt officials control the very regulatory bodies meant to constrain them. By placing the "foxes" in charge of investigating themselves, the fable suggests that reform commissions often become tools of the interests they're supposed to regulate. The moral—"All regulating should be done by its friends"—drips with irony, meaning the opposite: regulation by interested parties is useless.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Hygienic Horse HEN the steed had nobly sped him, And the stableman had fed him, To the drinking trough he led him, But he coaxed to no avail; For the horse replied with hauteur, “You may lead me to the water, But to make e drink, u'd oughter Have an individual pai The Fable of the Progressive Foxes NCE upon a time the leader of the barnyard fowls entered com- plaint that the Foxes were altogether too active in their maraudin, The Chief Fox, who by careful press-agent work had gained quite a nice little reputation as a philanthropist, listened attentively to the complaining Goose, put on his glasses in order to look the more intelligent and benevolent, and replied politely: “There may be something in what you but of course nothing could be done hastily. I'll tell you what I will do. I will ap- point a committce and have the whole matter investigated.” Therevpon he appointed a commit- tee of Foxes to study the entire sub- ject of predation. Witnesses were called from among the barnyard fowls. Those witnesses that complained were sent away to one room and those that were too meck to complain were sent to another room, After all the testi- mony was in, the Foxes fell to and had a sumptuous banquet off the com- plaining witnesses, while the others were allowed to go free. After the banquet, the committee drew up its report, which was sub- stantially as follows: “The committee has gone into the matter of the cost of living with great thoroughness and impartiality. We find that the complaints were due largely to a few malcontents and, as these malcontents have now been satisfied, we may consider that the problem of the cost of living is as good as solved.” Moral—All_ regulating should be done by its friends. “THAT THOSE WHO FLY MAY WED” E.0.4 comicbooks.com