Life, 1914-01-15 · page 12 of 40
Life — January 15, 1914 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a satirical article titled "He Was Anxious About Them" featuring two cartoons. The main cartoon "THE SCAB" depicts striking workers confronting what appears to be a strikebreaker (scab), a common labor dispute image from the early 20th century. The accompanying article mocks a newspaper editor's visitor—a wealthy man requesting "murder accounts" for entertainment reading. The satire critiques both upper-class sensationalism and the disconnect between society's elite and working-class struggles. The secondary cartoon "A FROST: HOW THE HOUSE SEEMED TO THE TWO STARS" appears unrelated, depicting theatrical figures. The page concludes with a humorous piece on fur coats, sardonically noting animals' hypothetical pride at their skins adorning city streets and limousines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE SCAB He Was Anxious About Them ‘I TRUST that you will pardon my intrusion, sir, but this is a matter of the greatest importance.” The tall, earnest man of middle age, who had a moment before entered the office of the editor-in-chief of the great newspaper, sank into a chair. “I know you are a busy man,” he continued, “but I represent a large body of your readers, and on behalf of myself, my wife and my family I want to ask you if you couldn't have a few more murder accounts in your paper?” “Murders?” “Yes, sir, and dress them up to read a little more luridly. Then I have noticed a slight falling off lately in spicy stories; play up the divorces a little more, couldn’t you?” “Divorces?” “That's the idea. Never mind ac- curacy. We are looking for something to catch the eye and nail the attention, And, by the way, about the comic sup- plement—you know the one where the artists draw a lot of human vegetables, and place a circle just above their heads with a slangy conversation— you couldn't give us one in the middle of the week in color, could you? Something rich, rare and racy?” “Rich, rare and racy? ” “Yes, I know. You do fairly well, but you must do better. My family needs it. My children need it. I have Furs URS are worn by ladies in cold weather in order to overheat themselves, and to cause other ladies to be envious, Furs are valuable in proportion to the success with which the original owners have been killed off. Every set of furs is a monument to a murder, and no lady’s wardrobe is complete without them. Only one thought makes us sad when we think of furs. All the animals that are still left are in entire ignorance of the glory that the rest of their com- panions, whose skins are largely worn on avenues and in limousines, have come unto. If they could only know this, how they would swell with pride! A FROST HOW THE HOUSE SEEMED TO THE TWO STARS a lot of growing girls and boys in my house, and we want you to help us out.” The great editor, interested in spite of himself, turned interrogatively to his voluntary visitor. “Do you mean to say, sir,” he asked, “that you let your boys and girls read these things?” “Why, certainly. Only you don't give us enough. We want more.” “Why?” The guest smiled. “Perfectly simple, sir,” he replied. “ My sons and daughters are now spend- ing most of their time looking at white slave picture shows in the afternoon, decadent dramas in the evening, or dancing suggestive dances and listening to sex lectures by noted psychologists at other times. And I thought if you could give them more reading matter in your paper such as I have described it might serve to keep them home more and elevate their morals.” T. L. Mf. comicbooks.com