Life, 1915-05-20 · page 20 of 44
Life — May 20, 1915 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This *Life* magazine page contains three satirical pieces mocking American politics and society circa early 1900s. **"The Defect of Baseball"** criticizes the Albany Legislature's Sunday baseball ban by sarcastically suggesting legislators oppose it because baseball is too transparent and honest—unlike their own secret "wire-pulling" (backroom deals). The satire suggests politicians couldn't sympathize with a wholesome public sport since they conduct important business in secrecy. **"Revised"** is a Shakespeare parody (reworking "All the world's a stage") that mocks political corruption. It references "Barneses and Roosevelts"—likely political figures of the era—and depicts politicians as corrupt players manipulating elections and franchise deals, ultimately exposed "sans shame, sans power, sans hope." **"Fashion Changes"** jokes about rapidly changing women's hat fashions, with a husband complaining there are "a dozen hat seasons in a year," mocking the fashion industry's constant trend cycles. The cartoons throughout satirize legislative corruption, political maneuvering, and consumer culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
904 The Defect of Baseball HEN we look at the inwards of the question, we can not blame the Albany Legislature for prohibiting baseball on Sunday. The trouble with baseball is that it is a little too open and above-board for the average legis- lator. Legislators do their best work, such as laying and pulling wires, in secret. What they do in public is solely for public misinformation. | When they have anything important to say they go into executive session. It is not reasonable, therefore, that they would be in complete sympathy with a sport that everybody can see is health- ful and harmless. lf the youth of the country want to be successful and ultimately reach the high estate of our majestical legis- lative solons, they must eschew the apen air and learn to spend their Sun- days in quiet indoor plotting and other ctivities of which illicitness and se- crecy are prime components BOid. qs more chaste, the less speed.” SINCE DISCOVERING A NARROW CHAIR ALGY MANAGES TO ENJOY HIS VISITS TO MISS PLUMPLEIGHS © DEATH, WHERE IS THY STING?” Revised LL the world's a frame-up. And all the players in it simply Barneses and Roose- velts. They have their exits and their entrances, And each one in his time plays many trump cards. And Demos pays the rent. At first the novice Elected to some unconspicuous district, Mewing and crooning in his boss’s arms, And then the leader walking more certainly, to fool The people with the sophist’s art; And after him the governor and the boss incipient Between them lapping up the cream of franchise: The one with mask of patriotic worth, The other epic in his blatant rule; Until at ‘last they meet, and heaven resounds Exposing to the world this strange, eventful history— Sans shame, sans power, sans hope, sans everything. T. L. M. Fashion Changes RS. NUWED: When we got married didn’t you promise me a new hat every season? Nuwep: But you never told me that there were about a dozen hat scasons in a year.