Life, 1914-04-02 · page 22 of 68
Life — April 2, 1914 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Left Cartoon ("If We All Preferred the Same Preacher"):** A crowded revival meeting scene mocking religious conformity—the satire's title suggests absurdity of everyone following one preacher. **"Exhaustively Exculpatory" Article:** Scathing critique of J.P. Morgan & Co.'s formal statement defending their New Haven Railroad dealings. Life sarcastically accepts their claim of "self-sacrifice" and pure motives, while heavily implying financial malfeasance. The reference to "heathen Chinee" and financial deception suggests Morgan used complex financial maneuvering to obscure wrongdoing that harmed widows and orphans (stockholders). **Right Cartoon:** Two fashionable figures viewing a "Modes" display, with dialogue mocking Parisian fashion dominance—"naturally" Paris determines Easter's date, satirizing European cultural superiority attitudes. **"A New Way" Section:** Critiques Andrew Carnegie's $2 million gift to churches for peace propaganda as cynically manipulative, given religious wars' historical toll. **Bottom Jokes:** Yiddish-accented humor about Jewish immigrant entrepreneurship and wealth accumulation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
= lis Ny A\| QUA vi fale fan iN SPF} C ay Z; IF WE ALL PREFERRED THE SAME PREACHER Exhaustively Exculpatory HE complete formal statement of J. P. Morgan & Co., showing that firm's connection with the New Haven Railroad, leaves nothing to be desired, or, to use the well-chosen language of the New York Sun, “rarely has irresponsible scandal been destroyed by facts so solid, \, presented in form so dignified”. It appears that, all in a spirit of self- sacrifice, the firm of J. P. Morgan & Co. spent a vast amount of time organizing and reorganizing and directing and fiscal-agent- ing the New Haven Road merely for the sake of a niggardly commission. As for taking any real pecuniary advantage of such intimate connections or recognizing a New Haven security in a social way on ‘\ Fifth Avenue after church, why the very QEIAOW idea is preposterous. Let us, then, rejoice and revert to the pristine notion that fiscal agents, far from being capable of wrongdoing, are really the very soul of self-denial and altruism. All this will be especially comforting to those widows and orphans, stockholders, who may yet be shown a financial statement to prove they received the dividends that were not sent. “For ways that are dark and tricks that are vain” the heathen Chinee is a poor second to the financial state- ment, “WHO DETERMINES THE DATE OF EASTER, MOTHER?” “ PARIS, NATURALLY.” A New Way THE gitt recently made by Andrew Carnegie of two million dollars, which is to be expended through the churches in order to further the Carnegie propaganda for universal peace, is almost a stroke of genius. Mr. Car- negie’s idea is to get the churches interested in the peace movement, to get the clergymen talking about it, etc. When we go back in the history of the world and count up the number of wars which have been instigated by religious controversies, when we consider the battles that have been the restilt of these controversies and the countless number of human lives sacrificed, could anything be more wise than to get the churches interested in peace by means of money? Mr. Carnegie is a canny citizen, IRST JEW: Dwenty years ago Goldstein sold shoe- strings on the corner und to-day he owns the corner on which he stood! Srconn Jew (excitedly): Und if he had valked up und down he might have owned the whole block. comicbooks.com