Life, 1913-07-17 · page 40 of 44
Life — July 17, 1913 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **satirical commentary on modern American society** rather than political cartoons. The main article, "Wheels," uses the humble wheelbarrow as a metaphor for how even simple tools can lead people astray—a humorous observation on human folly and moral weakness. The larger section promotes **Vogue's Vacation Number**, celebrating elite summer social gatherings (polo at Meadowbrook, races at Belmont Park). This advertises fashionable leisure activities accessible only to wealthy society. The "Modern Machinery" section satirizes **America's convention culture**—the proliferation of organized clubs and congresses (Undertakers' Association, Launderers' League, Christian Endeavor). The author critiques how Americans outsource thinking to these collective bodies rather than individual judgment, sarcastically calling conventions "the Voice of the Spirit of the Times." The page also includes period advertisements (Ingram's Milkweed Cream, Burrowes Cedar Chest) and a joke about marital discord, typical of era humor. Overall, the satire targets upper-class pretension and America's growing organizational bureaucracy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
IP RRSES Wheels HEELS are in use by autos, wagons, locomotives, invalids’ chairs, baby carriages and potters. Some people also have them. A government has many wheels, some of which are within other wheels; also legislatures and charitable societies have wheels. Sometimes a man who has wheels makes the world move around. Sometimes he doesn't. Wheels have been used quite generally for many years to wear out roads and thus keep the families of contractors in wholesome food and clothes and other necessities like yachts and. brown-stone fronts. It was, however, discovered not long ago that a wheel with rubber dees around it wears out a road faster than any other kind; so now they are used. A wheelbarrow has only one wheel, but such is its moral perversity that even this one wheel can lead any man into doing something wrong, if he keeps at it. In the Vacation Number of VOGUE All the fashionable events of early summer are presented in Vogue’s Vacation Number, now ready for you. As you read this number you will imagine your- self once more in the grandstand at Meadowbrook — in the center of the greatest, most fashionable audi- ence ever seen in America. Society will pass in review before you—at the polo, at the race meetings at Piping Rock and Belmont Park, and at all the other June gatherings of the smart world. Also you will see what Paris is wearing in the last gay weeks of the season — the gowns and hats and wraps worn at Longchamp and at the theatres. Don’t miss this wonderfully illustrated record of a remarkable June. Get the July 15th Vogue from your newsdealer to-day. VOGUE 443 Fourth Avenue, New York Condé Nast, Publisher 25 cents & number $4 a year Twice a month Twenty-four numbers Therels Beauty n Every ‘Jar wee rotection of Ingram’s itkweed Cream. Tan, sunburn, redness and chapping are relieved by its use, and dry or sag- fing tissues are toned and strengthened. Ingram's Milkweed Cream reatpplled lahty night and morning i softens, whitens and veautifes the skin It is atworbed quickly by the skin which is never sticky, shiey of greasy after Its use; requires no rubbing, therelore oes pot falarge or exaggerate the pores of the skis. Let ‘us prove tO you the valve of Iogran's To 3 za Sr eacloue t2e and we will mall them direct. Ai Frederick F. Ingram Compan: 3S Tenth St., Detreit, Mich. Ingram's Velveota Souveraine Face Powder Powdered Perfection For The Cowplesion, Light and od Yet without artisclal eflect, 4 shades. Price SOc at farce stove or by mall postpaid, “A handsome Vanity Bor EE, when you buy Velveola Souveraine Modern Machinery But we depend upon machinery not only for the things that we want, but for the brains with which we decide what we want. If a man wants to know what he thinks, he starts a club; and if he wants to be very sure, he calls a convention. From the National Undertakers’ Asso- ciation and the Laundercrs’ League to the Christian Endeavor Tournament and the World's Congress—the Midway Plaisance of Piety—the Convention strides the world with vociferousness. The silence that descends from the hills is filled with its ceaseless din. The smallest hamlet in the land has learned to listen reverent from afar to the vast insistent roar of it, as the Voice of the Spirit of the Times. —Crowns—By Gerald Stanley Lee. “Wreaten certainly ain't got no con- at's the matter, Mike?” “Me wife chased me out wid a roll- ing-pin this morning, and then cried be- cause I left home without kissing her good-by."—Birmingham Age-Herald. ,|MOTH-PROOF CEDAR CHEST |ON FREE TRIAL NO MONEY DOWN Bise—44x21xtt gener-tioss.” Aasrero em. Sp eer ¥, 7. HOR [comicbooks.com