Life, 1913-09-25 · page 26 of 43
Life — September 25, 1913 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical illustration depicts a domestic kitchen scene where a woman stands while a man sits on the floor surrounded by overturned pots and pans—suggesting domestic chaos or incompetence in her absence. The caption's title references the suffrage movement: "the girl the suffragettes left behind" implies criticism of women pursuing political activism (voting rights) at the expense of traditional domestic duties. The joke suggests that while women fought for equality, their homes and domestic responsibilities suffered—a common anti-suffrage argument of the era. The accompanying text "Those Mental Assets" mocks Wall Street speculation as purely psychological—value existing only in traders' minds rather than tangible assets. The separate section on Mayor Gaynor praises his independent thinking and anti-corruption stance, presenting him as refreshingly authentic compared to typical politicians. Together, the page contrasts frivolous domestic humor with admiration for principled civic leadership.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE GIRL THE SUFFRAGETTES LEFT BEHIND Those Mental Assets “(* LOOM, which has long resided within the walls of the Stock Exchange, is in danger of eviction,” we read in the financial columns of the New York Times. “The report that the last seat sold had brought $46,000 was confirmed by the authorities yesterday and 1,100 members men- tally added $5,000 each to their assets.” Which the same comes pretty near being a mi- crocosm of the whole Wall Street business. Their assets to an alarming degree are such as can be increased and decreased mentally. There AoW is very little which has a perceptible and certain value. It is all mind, as with the Christian Scientists, and that's what's the matter. Marking up and marking down. Bookkeeping without end. Now you have it and now you don't. The mind giveth and the mind taketh away. Con- sequently the mind is in a turmoil all the time. He that loseth his mind for Wall Street's sake shall never find it. Mayor Gaynor AYOR GAYNOR made a larger success at being more continuously interesting than perhaps any other public man of the present day. He thought for himself, and his courage was none the less of the highest order because it was at times irascible. He had in him a strain of mysticism, which in all great minds increases curiosity and adds to the dramatic quality of character. One of the evidences of his being a big man was that he carried his faults on his sleeve. A smaller man would have felt the necessity for concealing them, He had a great many facets to his character and dispo- sition. That is why there have been so many varying opinions about him. It is a pity that he should have been taken off so pre- maturely. He made the best reading our newspapers have had, and, all things considered, fought the devils of greed and corruption persistently and effectively. comicbooks.com