Life, 1913-09-18 · page 14 of 44
Life — September 18, 1913 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes Mr. Charles Page of Tulsa, Oklahoma, who plans to adopt one thousand children. The top illustration ("The Middleman's Profit") shows a well-dressed couple with their own child, suggesting the financial incentive behind such mass adoption. The article mocks Page's scheme as impractical and emotionally cold. While adopting a few children might be manageable, caring for a thousand is absurd—Page would likely hire institutional care rather than provide personal attention. The satire critiques wealthy individuals who use children as a financial enterprise or tax benefit rather than genuinely parenting them. The microscope cartoon joke (right) appears unrelated, offering comic relief about magnified microbes. The satire targets the commodification of child welfare and questions whether large-scale adoption serves children's actual needs.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Aleeat FARRELL “THE MIDDLEMAN’S PROFIT” A Wholesale Father R. CHARLES PAGE of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has started out to accumulate one thousand children, He already has three hundred. He adopts them and is going to try the experiment of bringing them‘ up. This is a large contract for any one man. Most married people find that bringing up a family of two or three children absorbs all their energies. It would take longer than one day to spank one thousand children, and do it creditably. Mr Page can hire help, of course, but it isn’t so satisfactory to spank a boy in this commer manner. When you are spanking a boy, your sympathies and affection go out to him in a way nat possible when the job is done by someone else. Perhaps Mr. Page doesn't believe in spanking. His of- fice may be purely financial. He may put up the moncy and let the children be taken care of by institutions, giv Mrs, Microbe: MY DEAR, WE MUST MOVE OUT OF THIS ing no personal care himself to the children. AD HIS LANGUAGE IS TOO DREADFUL FOR THE If he is doing that, then he is only doing on a CHILDREN TO HEAR. larger scale what most American parents of to-day are : *The microbes in this cut are magnified four hundred and doing. fifty-one time: comicbooks.com