Life, 1914-05-07 · page 13 of 52
Life — May 7, 1914 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces: **Top illustration**: A social satire showing a man at a formal dance party making excuses to a woman. He claims he cannot dance because he hasn't been introduced to anyone, yet she observed him dancing with "Miss James the other night." The joke mocks social pretension and transparent dishonesty—the man's obvious lie undercuts his excuse about needing formal introductions. **Bottom section**: Text discusses the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City (which killed 147 workers, mostly young women). The writer sardonically notes that while safety improvements are promised, conditions will likely remain unchanged "until something happens"—criticizing institutional complacency. The accompanying illustration shows a "Safety Device for Speed Maniacs," humorously depicting a primitive early automobile safety feature.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
He: THERE’s NO USE INTRODUCING ME TO ANYONE. 1 CAN’T DANCE She: WHAT NONSENSE! I SAW YOU DANCING WITH MISS JAMES THE OTHER NIGHT “YES, BUT SHE HASN'T SPOKEN TO ME SINCE Next! HEN the moral pendulum is out of gear, you will MaAxY people in the vicinity of New York, and, in fact, never remedy. matters by swinging it too far in the in other large cities, will rejoice to learn something other direction. of importance about the Triangle fire. This fire, it will possibly be recalled, occurred in New York City in April, 1911, and one hundred and forty-seven people were burned to death—most of them young women. It will be a great comfort, therefore, to learn that there is a fair prospect that some time in the future the condi- tions will be improved so much that it will be impossible for this fire to be duplicated. They had a meeting about it re- cently, and all agreed that the prospect was quite bright. Mr. Joseph O, Hammitt, Chief of the Department of Fire Prevention, said something about it. Also others. The proprietors of the Triangle factory, it will also possibly be remembered, got off. By and by, when we get a modern sprinkling system, have the factories built so they can’t burn down, and arrange it so that in case there is a fire the proprietors of the place will be the first ones to be burned up, everything will then be all right. In the meantime, we shall probably run along about the same as usual until something happens. SAFETY DEVICE FOR SPEED MANIACS. comichooks.