Life, 1914-05-28 · page 16 of 44
Life — May 28, 1914 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Top Cartoon:** Satirizes reckless automobile driving. A wealthy couple in an overturned car callously instructs their driver to hit "thin ones" instead of fat pedestrians—darkly joking that slim victims cause less damage. This mocks both the new automobile's danger to pedestrians and the careless indifference of wealthy drivers. **"Hail, New York! Hail!":** Sarcastically praises New York State for its massive debt (25% of total state debt despite only 10% of population). The piece mocks politicians and citizens for celebrating financial irresponsibility, using the Latin phrase "Nunc est bibendum" ("now is the time to drink")—suggesting they're ignoring a looming financial reckoning. **"Introspection":** Satirizes excessive self-reflection and modern social movements. It lumps together "suffragitis" (women's suffrage), prohibitionism, ragtime, and legislation as byproducts of idle introspection. The remedy suggested—fighting one's neighbor—is presented as possibly worse than the disease itself, mocking both introspection and its proposed cure.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“ FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, JAMES! IF YOU MUST RUN OVER PEOPLE, PICK OUT THE THIN ONES” i Hail, New York! Hail! HY is the State of New York mighty? Is it because it owes so much money? Fresh picked statistics from Washington show that New York has ten per cent. of the total population, but it has twenty-five per cent. of the total State debt. That shows that New York's credit is good, which we suppose is a cause for congratulation, It also shows that New York is much more able not to pay as it goes than any other State, It is probably a very desir- able thing to be able not to pay as one goes. Of course we can’t keep it up fore There is a limit to the amount of interest which even so rich and reckless a common- wealth as New York can pay. There will have to be a reckoning sometime. But why disturb ourselves with such a disquieting thought? Nunc est bibendum. Introspection NTROSPECTION is the process of looking at your- self through a glass, more or less darkly, and is usually indulged in by those who have nothing else to do. Introspection, if long continued produces many maladies, including suffragitis, sex-mania, grape-juice fever, pro- hibitionists, ragtime, two-steps, legislation and laws, One of the oldest and most reliable cures known is to get into ye a fight with your neighbor. Some think the remedy is worse than the disease. “A DUTCH TREAT” comicbooks.com