Life, 1913-08-21 · page 33 of 40
Life — August 21, 1913 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces: **"The Mayor"** (left column): A satirical character sketch mocking municipal politicians. It portrays a mayor as someone who talks excessively, reads everything except police records, attends dinners to complain about his day, and uses his office to reward loyalists or punish honest enemies. The satire targets the mayor's narcissism, his love of performing for newspapers, and his abuse of patronage power—suggesting he's all talk and political manipulation rather than actual governance. **"Symbols of Protection"** (right): An advertisement for Bell Telephone Company presenting the telephone as America's modern "symbol of protection"—comparing it to Egyptian sun-disk amulets and medieval castle walls. The ad argues that nationwide telephone infrastructure binds Americans together, protects isolated communities, and safeguards "national ideals and political rights" through communication. The juxtaposition is likely intentional: the self-serving mayor contrasts with Bell's idealistic vision of technology uniting the nation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
print sas, Buikdiogs poy to Lire The Mayor EE the Mayor. %! This gentleman is engaged in two cecupations: He guards the city's in- terests and furnishes copy for the newspapers. But furnishing copy for the newspapers takes up most of his time. Does the Mayor love the newspa- pers? Not so much as he should, con- sidering what they have done for him. The Mayor is also a great reader. He reads philosophy and history and essays: he reads everything except the police records. Every morning the Mayor may be seen walking across the bridge. He frequently talks to people whom he has never seen before. Sometimes the Mayor is pleasant to total strangers. He gets over this, however, when he comes to know you better. The Mayor has a cross word and an unpleasant smile for everybody. In the evening he attends dinners and tells the assembled diners all the things he has seen during the day which he didn’t like. That is the reason why the Mayor usually talks so long. The Mayor works hard all day. When there are no letters to write to little girls, or after-dinner speeches to dictate, there are always other things that a Mayor can do. He can keep people in office who, under other cir- cumstances, might be languishing in jail: he can also turn out others who annoy him by their honesty. It takes a great deal of courage to ed—Stopped OTHERSILL'S, after thorough tests, is now off. cially adopted ‘by practically all the Great Lakes nd” New” York Steamship Companies running d many Transatlantic lines. years ago Mr. Mothersill gave a personal. demon- n of his remedy on the English Channel, Irish Sea, be Baltic, and received unqualified endorsement from pers and such people as Bishop Taylor Smith, hosts of doctors, bankers and profes: | international re- Letters from personages ith much valuable people we all know—together mation, are contained in an attractive booklet, which | be sent free upon receipt of your name and address. Mothersill’s is guaranteed not to contain cocaine, mor- opium, chloral, or any coal-tar products. so cent lox is sufficient for twenty-four hours. $1.00 box for a | Transatlantic voyage. Your druggist keeps Mothersill’s | er will obtain it for you from bis wholesaler. If you ave any trouble getting the genuine. send direct to the Mothersill Remedy Co., gos Scherer Bldg., Detroit, Mich t D. ¢ \y W LE MU ic WW of Protection Ancient Egyptians carved over their doorways and upon their temple walls the symbol of super- natural protection; a winged disk. It typified the light and “power of the sun, brought down from on high by the wings of a bird. Medieval Europe, in a more practi- cal manner, sought protection behind the solid masonry of castle walls. In America we have approached the ideal of the Egyptians. Franklin drew electricity from the clouds and Bell harnessed it to the telephone. Today the telephone is a means of protection more potent than the sun disk fetish and more practical than castle walls. The Bell System has carried the telephone wires everywhere through- out the land, so that all the people} are bound together for the safety and freedom of each. | This telephone protection, with| electric speed, reaches the most! isolated homes. Such ease of com-| munication makes usa homogeneous| people and thus fosters and protects our national ideals and_ political rights. AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES One Policy be a Mayor; almost as much as it does to be an author. No two mayors are alike. But sometimes they wish they were. A Mayor in time saves nine gun- men. But not always. Every little Mayor has a leaning all his own. Once a Mayor, not always a Mayor. To render a marriage happy, the hus- band should be deaf and the woman One System The Lost Art of Thinking One of the best modes of improving in the art of thinking is, to think over some subject, before you read upon it; and then to observe after what manner it has occurred to the mind of some great master. You will then observe whether you have been too rash or too timid; what you have omitted, and in what you have exceeded; and by this process you will insensibly catch a great manner of viewine a question —Sud comicbooks.com