Life, 1914-06-04 · page 41 of 52
Life — June 4, 1914 — page 41: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces mocking bureaucratic incompetence and vague promises. **Top cartoon**: "Frock of Ages, Cleft for Me" shows a fashioner presenting a dress design while a squirrel observes—likely satirizing absurd or impractical fashion claims. **Main text (marked "A")**: Life ridicules New York Fire Chief Kenlon's vague assurances about factory fire safety. The joke: the Chief promises that eliminating cigarette waste will reduce fire risk "fifty per cent," but Life sarcastically notes that statisticians haven't even determined what the original risk *is*. Using mock mathematical language, they expose the absurdity—Fire Chief Kenlon is making confident proclamations based on unknown data ("A" = an unknown quantity). This mocks how government officials make dramatic safety claims without actual evidence or clear baselines. The page also contains period **advertisements** (Boston Garter socks, Chickering pianos) typical of Life's commercial content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“FROCK OF AGES, CLEFT FOR ME” “A” E are greatly encouraged. Every- thing is going to be all right. There has been some slight delay, but in the near future we may expect measures which will result in certain things being done upon which so much has previously depended that we have naturally been somewhat timid for fear that they would not happen. But we are glad to state that the time is now coming when all our fears will be allayed. Chief Kenlon of the New York Fire Department says that by the elimination of loose waste and the Proper control of the cigarette peril, I HT LAC MORN REN ET TNT ATA HATA Men who dress well prefer the silk Boston Garter for personal satisfaction GEORGE FROST CO., MAKERS, * + BOSTON No group of words that could be written and here set down to describe to you the Chickering piano could tell so much as the one word Chickering. Just as a Whistler means an etching, just as a Rembrandt means a painting— so a Chickering means a piano. Such a distinction is never an accident, never undeserved. A Gyitkertigy®- Pianss Y Literature mailed gladly Chickering & Sons, Boston Division of American Piano Co. the risks of fire in State factories and other places where Iabor is employed would be reduced fifty per cent. Up to the present time, owing to the fact that several statisticians have been under the weather, and other experts have been so busy with impor- tant engagements that they have not been able to get around, we are unable to inform our readers as to what the original risk is. But let us assume that it is indicated by the algebraic letter “A”. This would make the equation: A —all cigarette smoking — all waste paper = A + 2. To those who are unfamiliar with algebra, having possibly been so busy with their family duties and other re- sponsibilities that they have only suc- ceeded in getting as far as the seventh grade, we beg to inform them that “A” in algebra, as in State factory investigations and other statistical re- ports, is an unknown quantity. comicbooks.com