Life, 1914-11-12 · page 11 of 48
Life — November 12, 1914 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon ("Indemnity"):** A military or political authority figure stands over a fallen person, holding a sword. This illustrates the concept of "indemnity"—compensation demanded after conflict or wrongdoing. The imagery suggests military victory or political dominance being used to extract payment from a weaker party. **Bottom Cartoon ("Which Is Which?"):** Shows two men near a vehicle labeled "JIGGS" (likely referencing the comic strip character Jiggs). The caption notes one man "has just failed for a million and the other doesn't owe a cent to anyone." This satirizes wealth and financial status—questioning whether visible success distinguishes those who are genuinely solvent from those who appear successful but are bankrupt. Both cartoons mock power dynamics and appearances versus reality in American society.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
INDEMNITY Historical Fragment TH people all being so busy attending baseball games and moving-picture shows that they had no time to go themselves, sent their representatives to a common center to make the right rules and regulations. The representatives, being paid by the people, had leisure to think out a system of their own. They thereupon invented the machine. The machine produced ‘the boss. This annoyed the people intensely every time they were called upon to exercise the sacred right of all bondmen, namely, the ballot, and they thereupon decreed the direct primary, This made it possible to say who they should vote for by letting them select beforehand the men they wanted. Then they discovered, with surprise, that these men were always the men the Boss wanted. “There is something the matter here,” said the People, knitting its brow momentarily. “We must now, ergo, in- vent something to circumvent the direct primary.” Whereupon the boss smiled sagely. “Anything to occupy your minds and give the editorial writers something to praise,” he remarked blithely, ‘WHICH tS WHICH? ONE OF THESE MEN HAS JUST PAILED FOR A MILLION AND THE OTHER DOESN'T OWE A CENT TO ANYONE comicbooks.com