Life, 1914-10-01 · page 32 of 48
Life — October 1, 1914 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts child laborers in a mill yard—an "object-lesson" mocking capitalists who claim labor demands are excessive. The satire targets Alabama's 1907 child labor law, which prohibited employing children under twelve but included a loophole: violations were only punishable if the employer *knowingly* permitted it. The article's bitter irony is that mill owners exploited this by simply ignoring what happened in their factories. The cartoon shows the reality: over half the child workers were eleven, others as young as six. The secondary "Geography" section uses sarcastic definitions (the North Sea as "war rumors," Belgium as a "graveyard") to comment on World War I's devastation in Europe. The "Lost!" item mockingly addresses William Jennings Bryan—a peace advocate then serving as Secretary of State—suggesting his peace plans for post-war Europe have vanished between Berlin and Paris. Together, these pieces critique both industrial exploitation at home and international conflict abroad.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OBJECT-LESSON FOR THOSE CAPITALISTS WHO THINK LANOR DEMANDS TOO MUCH An Important Exception EVERAL years ago Alabama went through the motions of prohibiting children under twelve from working in the mills, and provided that any person, firm or corporation who know- ingly permitted any child under the statutory age to work in the mills was guilty of a misdemeanor. Which, of course, was a_ justly thoughtful and generous way to treat the mill owners, If a mill owner could only get a child under twelve into his factory without finding it out, then his conscience and his reputation would remain unsullied, and his profits undiminished. That the mill owners were eminently successful in not dis- covering what was going on in their establishments is revealed in the report of the United States Department of Commerce and Labor, which shows that more than one-half of the chil- dren were eleven years of age and the rest ranged from six to ten. To be a practical business man in Alabama one must possess great powers of over- sight. Where ignorance is both legal and profitable, tis folly not to add it to one’s accomplishments. Our New Primer of Geography ORTH SEA—A body of water en- tirely surrounded by war rumors, Betctum—A neutral graveyard. Lost! j OMEWHERE between Berlin” and Paris. One rose-colored plan for world-peace. Finder please return to W. Bryan, Washington, D. C. STAGE FRIGHT