Life — May 28, 1914 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Charity Bazaar" - Car Fare Satire This Life magazine cartoon satirizes the "car-fare" scheme—a financial scam involving installment-plan automobile purchases. The illustration shows a well-dressed man confronting a woman at a charity bazaar, with the caption: "Why do you charge me five dollars when you sold Mr. Flint one for two dollars and a half?" / "You look twice as generous as he does." The accompanying text explains how car-fare operates: citizens vote to elect officials who sell car-fare privileges to insiders for profit. Passengers then pay inflated prices, with the excess funding stock manipulation. The scheme is characterized as "a game of uplift: A put-up, a stand-up, and a hold-up"—meaning it's rigged corruption disguised as public benefit.