Life, 1914-09-10 · page 7 of 48
Life — September 10, 1914 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page critiques the treatment of the "middleman"—likely referring to merchants or grocers during wartime rationing. The header "Not This Year" suggests a plea against profiteering or hoarding during what appears to be WWI. The top illustration shows a hunter aiming at a flying creature (possibly representing the middleman being hunted), while a sailor manages a boat—imagery suggesting conflict over commerce. The main text defends the middleman as "kind and benevolent," acknowledging his wartime struggles. It warns against public shaming, jailing, or violence toward grocers and merchants, even if prices seem unfair. The photograph titled "Keeping a Good Man Down" appears to show someone in difficulty, reinforcing the argument that middlemen deserve sympathy rather than persecution during economic hardship.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Our Primer of Celebrities EE the Middleman. He is the kind and benevolent gentleman who supplies us with the necessities of life, such as food of all kinds. He is a real nice, lovely man. But you would not, of course, expect him to be perfect. None of us is quite perfect. We all have our blemishes. The middleman is no exception. He has a lovely disposition and a gentle smile and a tender heart. He has only one fault. He robs you whenever he gets achance. That is his nature. He cannot help it. He was born that way. “There are some nice strictly fresh eggs,” says the kind, gentle middleman, “laid only six months ago. The price ordinarily would be thirty cents, but owing to the fact that the Thirteenth Russian Army Corps are wearing suspen- ders made in Germany, I shall charge you ninety cents.” Then he says, while an unbidden tear stands in his benevolent eye: “Tt breaks my heart to do it. Oh, how I hate these distant wars! The price is now ninety-five cents, Better take ‘em or—” “* Not This Year”’ Should we love, honor and cherish the middleman? Certainly; why not? We have loved, honored, cherished and supported many others like him in the past. We are in the habit of loving, honor- ing and cherishing so many patriots whose love of their country is only KEEPING A GOOD MAN DOWN exceeded by their skill in holding us all up that it would be a pity to go back on the dear middleman, Especially now in this trying time, when he needs our help so much. Let us, therefore, keep on encourag- ing him to rob us and charge four times as much as he might if there wasn’t a war somewhere else. Be kind, therefore, to the middle- man, no matter whether he deals in meats, vegetables or groceries. Do not put him in jail, or kick him downstairs, or dump him into the Atlantic Ocean. That would be c-r-n-e-l. And to be too cruel to those who systematically and publicly rob us is not in our nature. Something Wrong ITH an Anglo-Saxon and Protestant England, a Celtic and Roman Catholic France, and a Slav and Greek Catholic Russia, there is a chance for a very strong Triple Entente with Providence. It would seem to be almost the manifest duty for some one of assurance to call the attention of the various crowned heads of Europe to what must be, though not a strategic, nevertheless cer- tainly a tactical blunder, comicbooks.com