Life, 1913-07-10 · page 43 of 44
Life — July 10, 1913 — page 43: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **satirical commentary on railroad financing** alongside period advertisements and a book list. The main article criticizes railroad companies for spending excessive time and resources on complex financial arrangements (bonds, stock issues, refinancing) with banks. The satire's point: if the U.S. Post Office operated similarly—constantly negotiating with bankers instead of delivering mail—service would suffer dramatically. Yet railroads somehow manage this distraction while still functioning. The implied criticism targets both the railroads' inefficiency and the banking system's entanglement with corporate operations. The author suggests the Post Office represents a better model: government-run, focused on service rather than financial manipulation. The **Pabst Blue Ribbon advertisement** ("This or Nothing for Me") uses a dramatic face and glass to market beer as a quality product—typical early 20th-century luxury branding. The remaining content—automotive rope products, book listings—represents standard magazine filler of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Motor Now in Safety a neat, compact Autowline and paJy to tow or be towed when road trouble S. Its 25 ft. of finest flexible steel rope. hs only 5 pounds but can pull a 4000 pound up a 20% grade. Autowline has stood every severe touring test for year: BASLINE AUTOWLINE Made of Werld-Famous Yellow Strand Wire Rope Big, bulky maple towline soils and crowds a Bashine Antowline he FREE giies sharers Broderick & Bascom Rope Co. (899 N , Za Street, St, Levis, Me. Books Received Courtin’ Christina, by J. J. Bell. io. H. Doran Co. $1 oe) g the Tune, by justin Huntly McCarthy. (Geo. H. Dorzn Co. i hland of North Ameri almer Putnam (G. P. nam’s Sons.) Key, by Louise N3strém-Hamil- P. Putnam's Sons. A Himolayan tayll, b: (G. P. Putnam's Sens. Thunderhead Lady. by Anna Ful ler and Brian Read. (3. P. Putnam's Sons. $1.00.) Travers’ Golf Book, by Jerome D. Travers, (The MacMillan Co, $2.00.) The Ware Case, by tivorge Pleydell. (Geo. H. Doran Co. $1.25) The Masked War, by William J. Barns. (Geo. Il, Doran Co. $150.) The Old Adam, by Arnold Bennett. (Geo. H. Doran Co. $1 What You Should Te'l Your Boy, by Edmund Thomas. (Ths Platt & Peck $.50.) Letters from a Father to his Daugh- ter Entering College, by Charles Frank- lin Thwing. ‘Lo Michael,” by Grace L. H. Lute. (J. B. Lippincott Co., Phitadelphia, Pa. Pity the Poor Blind, by H. H. PBash- ford. (Henry Holt & Company. $1.35.) Unrest of Women. by Edward ord Martin. (D. Avpleton & Co. ¢ Republic, by Madison Cawein. (Stewart & Kidd Co. $1.00.), Our Unknown Southwest, by . Laut, (McBrids Nast & Co. The New Unionism, by André Tridon. (B. W. Huebsch. $1.00.) Our Financed Railroads R. JOSEPH T. TALBERT, Vice-President of the tional City Bank, says that 1 chormons amount of railroad financing must be done during the next year or two.” Right there lies one of the chief troubles that beset our railroads. They need alto- gether too much financing. It must be very distractin: No wonder the railroads have to be neglected in other ways. It is lucky the postoflice isn't similarly situated. If we had to spend all our time dickering with bankers about mortgage-bond issues, thort- term-note issues, stock issues, refunding plans, etc, we should probably have to charge much more for carrying letters besides being less prompt and less sure in their dis- tribution. Why don’t our railroads look into this matter? Perhaps our postoffice offers an exemplary method of escape from an entangling environment. PETER J. CAREY, PRINTER, NEW YORK. comicbooks.com