Life, 1913-10-09 · page 25 of 44
Life — October 9, 1913 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon "The Majesty of the Law" depicts a figure in darkness examining legal documents by lamplight, satirizing the opacity and difficulty of navigating the legal system—the "majesty" being ironic commentary on how impenetrable law appears to ordinary citizens. The page includes a poem "Our Progress" by Geo. B. Morewood that satirizes human behavior through a series of metaphors about rushing thoughtlessly into life's situations (debt, passion, love, marriage), suggesting people act impulsively without deliberation. A lower cartoon humorously depicts a scenario where someone administered a fictional "Suspended Animation Tablet" to a relative for a headache, then lost the prescription to revive them—dark comedy about the dangers of experimental medicine and absent-minded behavior. The dialogue snippets mock social pretension and bureaucratic red tape, with one figure threatening to escalate a complaint "to the Governor" over perceived discrimination. Overall, the page satirizes legal systems, human folly, medical quackery, and bureaucratic absurdity typical of Life's social commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“THE MAJESTY OF THE LAW” physical and psychological, which he bares to our gaze are not the theoriz- ings of a problem novel, but the actu- alities of a lived life. Taken as a whole, “John Barley- corn” is a difficult feat (for writing a confession is, spiritually speaking, like walking tight-rope) accomplished with admirable poise. It is a thrilling story, quite apart from the fact that it is a confession. And it is a confession which rather takes one’s breath away, at times, quite apart from the fact of its being a thrilling story. And between these two facts and the further one that Jack London can, when he is in the mood, make words sound like red- hot rivets driven home in the lapped seams of a wrought-iron argument; the book as a bit of prohibition propa- ganda, is altogether out of the ordi- nary, both in the direction from which its attack is delivered and in the spirit in which it is driven home. J. B. Kerfoot. OUISE: Troubled appetite, isn’t she? Jutta: She doesn't even want to eat the things that the doctors forbid. with loss of Our Progress E walk into our victuals, We run into debt. We rush into print. We step into .a practice. We fly into a passion. We spring into notice. We jump into a fight. We dive into a book. We wade into an adversary. We sink into slumber. We leap into notoriety. We break into society. We stumble into acquaintance. We glide into intimacy. We fall in love. We precipitate ourselves into wedlock. Geo. B. Morewood. Possibilities of the Future LD TOP: I szy, what's the mat- ter with those Newtypes? They have been running back and forth to the drug store, and calling up all the doctors in town. Jouty: Why, didn’t you hear? Newtype gave his wife’s mother one of Dr. Research's Suspended Anima- tion Tablets to relieve her sick head- ache. Newtype can’t just remember where he put the prescription to bring her to, and Dr. Research has gone to South Africa on a hunting trip! Otp Tor: But what's the hurry? S'T RETURN MY SALUTE. MORE RACE DISCRIMINATION, EH? I'LL PUT IT RIGHT UP TO THE GOVERNOR!" comicbooks.com