Life, 1914-04-23 · page 9 of 44
Life — April 23, 1914 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical cartoon titled "The Mother Instinct" by Richard Culter, addressing social issues in early 20th-century New York. **The Scene:** A crowded tenement or public space shows working-class figures, including a small child. **The Satire:** The accompanying text describes a young unemployed man who literally advertised for work by wearing a sandwich board on Broadway reading "I want a job"—and successfully found employment. The cartoon illustrates this "obvious truth" that personal attention and direct appeal work better than conventional job-seeking. **The Social Commentary:** The "Mother Instinct" title suggests that someone (possibly a woman or maternal figure) responded to this direct appeal with compassion. The piece critiques how economic desperation forces such humiliating public displays while celebrating that human kindness—the "mother instinct"—can still intervene to help.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Wann Queene, PEP Y THE MOTHER INSTINCT It Pays to Advertise N obvious truth is of no particular consequence unless by some personal touch, attention is called to it in an original way. The recent experience of a young man out of work in New York illustrates this. He tied a placard on his back, 4 la sandwich-man, and started to walk up Broadway. On the placard, in large letters, he had Painted: “I want a job.” He got it. Hopeful Progress EVELOPMENTS in regard to the New Haven Road roll on apace, even though the World is the only newspaper in New York that seems to know or care about them. We haven't yet reached the point where the gentle- men who looted the property have voluntarily come for- ward and suggested restitution to the stockholders, but there is progress nevertheless. comicbooks.com