Life, 1913-12-04 · page 60 of 112
Life — December 4, 1913 — page 60: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features satirical Christmas letters to Santa Claus from prominent public figures of the era: **G. Bernard Shaw** (Irish playwright) dismisses Santa as "nauseating emotional insanity," suggesting Santa work instead as a motorman or laborer for "Militant Suffragettes"—referencing the women's suffrage movement that Shaw supported. **Andrew Carnegie** (steel magnate) jokes that Santa should rename himself "Andy Claus, Carnegie Foundation" and take over his wealth-distribution work. **Emmeline Pankhurst** (British suffragette leader) recruits Santa to their cause, treating him as a potential supporter. The accompanying illustration shows a man buried under gifts labeled with sources (mother-in-law, sister, cousin Kate), satirizing the burdensome nature of holiday obligations. The "Luxury" essay below contrasts necessity with want, suggesting Americans' desire for unneeded luxuries drives progress—a commentary on American consumerism and materialism during this pre-WWI period.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WILL SANTA CLAUS BE ON TIME? somewhere, say as a motorman, or possibly as a hod-car- rier to some Militant Suffragette, and give up this ever- lasting annual visitation of nauseating emotional insanity with which you have for many centuries been afflicting a neurotic world. Yours unsentimentally, G, Bernarp Suaw. ees Skibo Castle, Nov. 27, 1913. Dear Brother Claus: Take over my job and give me a vacation. If you'll change your name to Andy Claus, Carnegie Foundation, you can have all I've got. Fraternally yours, Brotuer Anprew. London, Dec. 1, 1913. Santa Claus, Dear Madame: Join our cause—that’s all I ask of any good woman. Yours truly, Mrs. Pankuurst. MOTHER- IN: LAW “MERRY CHRISTMAS! Luxury HE difference between luxury and necessity is one of degree, more than kind. For example, it is a luxury to kiss some girls, and a necessity to kiss some wives. Water is a necessity. When it flows from the root of a grape vine up through the vine itself and is taken out of the grape and bottled up and labeled “Extra Dry” it is a luxury. A luxury is almost anything which you cannot afford. That is why, with most Americans, thought is a luxury. The love of luxury is the root of all Progress. The desire for things we don’t need is what makes the wheels go round. Luxury is noted for its ambition. It is never satisfied to be just a plain conspicuous luxury. It keeps on trying over and over again, until at last it becomes a neces- sity. Thus we may learn from every little luxury one of the great lessons of life—that perseverance conquereth all things. comichooks.