Life, 1915-04-15 · page 7 of 44
Life — April 15, 1915 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early automobile culture through two pieces: **"Propositions in Automobile Geometry"** (top left) mocks the inflated economics of cars—claiming an automobile costs 21 times more than the sum of its parts, implying massive markup and dealer profit. It suggests this absurdity would give automobile agents nothing to discuss otherwise. **"Easy"** (right) presents a dialogue between "Reason" and "Experience" debating necessity—a philosophical joke about justifying automobile purchases through rationalization rather than actual need. **"Lambs and Kids"** (main illustration) shows cherubic children playing around a maypole, likely satirizing how automobiles were aggressively marketed to families as wholesome, carefree experiences—when the technology was actually new, expensive, and potentially dangerous. The imagery contrasts innocent childhood joy with commercial manipulation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
indards ION ree Propositions In Automobile Geometry automobile is the shortest distance between two points. The price of a whole automobile is twenty-one times more than the sum of the price of its parts. All automobiles are not the same automobile, for if they were, then automobile agents would have nothing to talk about, which assumption is absolutely absurd. EASON and Experience had a dispute as to which of them is the more necessary. “No matter what situation es, it is only necessary to bring me to bear upon it,” said Reason, “and the solu- tion is bound to come.” “After which,” said Experience, smiling gently, “it re- mains for me to demonstrate that your solution is wrong.” LAMBS AND KIDS comicbooks.com