Life, 1914-03-19 · page 16 of 44
Life — March 19, 1914 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes social and institutional decline in early 20th-century America through personification. The main dialogue features two allegorical figures: "After-dinner Speech" and "Shame," both being expelled from public life. The satire suggests that after-dinner speeches (a popular entertainment form) and public shame have become socially obsolete—likely due to changing standards of propriety and the rise of new entertainment media. The accompanying poem "Notoriety and Fame" contrasts sensationalism's immediate impact against genuine achievement's lasting legacy, suggesting contemporary culture prioritizes scandal over substance. "Red Tape" mocks bureaucratic inefficiency as a tool of inferior minds and incompetent politicians. The lower cartoon depicts a boy checking hats at a restaurant—likely satirizing class pretension or youth employment in service industries. The overall theme: American institutions and values are deteriorating, replaced by sensationalism and bureaucratic dysfunction.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
496 Outward Bound HEY were both leaving, and ran up against each other. The way was dark, and they had been so blinded by too much publicity that they could not see. She spoke first: “Where are you going?” He replied disconsolately : “T've been barred out. It hardly seems possible, because I thought I was a fixture. I've been a popular favorite so long that I did not realize, after all, that they were only tolerating me.” She smiled sympathetically. “Now I recognize you,” she replied, “you poor old After-dinner Speech. No wonder you resent it. But think of me! In the midst of my own atmos- phere, without the slightest shadow of reason, I have to get out also. It seemed to me as if I would al- ways at least be a part of the people. But recent events on the stage, pulpit and in literature have determined otherwise. And so, my friend, I, too, am going.” He looked at her keenly, as they pre- pared to go out together. “ Ah!" he exclaimed. “ Now I recog- nize you. And so you are Shame!” “ORA PRO NoBIS” Notoriety and Fame SP Notoriety to Fame: “You may be great; but, just the same, 1 am a bigger man than you And make much more disturbance, too, Year after year you work away To do what I do in one day. I cut one of my startling capers And get first page in all the papers, While you get half a line, when dead, In some old musty book, unread.” Walter G. Doty. Red Tape R® tape is the bulwark of inferior minds, Language is said to conceal thought; red tape paralyzes action. Politicians use red tape to create offices; without it, gov- ernment would be so simple that everybody would under- stand it. If you would accomplish big results, look not upon the tape when it is red. OBBIE: Come on, Aunty, we'll go in the last car. SNAP-SHOT OF THE BOY WHO CHECKS THE HATS AT A Austy: Oh, no, Bobbie. The last car is dangerous, FASHIONABLE RESTAURANT “Well, why don’t they leave the last car off?” comichooks.qom