Life, 1915-06-10 · page 27 of 48
Life — June 10, 1915 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces critiquing American institutions: **"Two Kinds in the Cabinet"** mocks President Wilson's selective attention to cabinet members, suggesting he overly "counsels" some while neglecting others. The cartoon shows two women discussing this favoritism. **"Mr. Lawson's Mistake"** is the main commentary. John R. Lawson, a Colorado miners' union leader, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment despite being absent when a mine guard was killed—his crime was leading the strikers' organization. The author sarcastically argues Lawson's "mistake" was choosing labor organizing rather than a safer profession like bishop or militia officer, positions whose members escape legal consequences for similar or worse offenses. This critiques Colorado's judicial system as systematically hostile to union members while protecting the wealthy and powerful. **"Remarkable Guns"** is a separate cartoon depicting exaggerated boasts about weapons' killing ranges, likely referencing WWI propaganda. The page attacks class inequality and labor injustice in early 20th-century America.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Two Kinds in the Cabinet The Secretary of the Navy, . has my unqualified support, for I have counselled with him in inti- mate fashion—President Wilson. 'HERE seem to be two kinds of men in the Cabinet—those with whom the Presidegt counsels in inti- mate fashion, and those who, praise be! can handle their jobs with a mini- mum of the presidential attention. MODERN investigations give every evidence of having been invented by the King of Futility. If a man be poor, he is studied and pitied. If a man be rich, he is investigated and perhaps denounced. But both are left as they were found. THE SECRET ° ) Mr. Lawson's Mistake Mes JOHN R. LAWSON, leader of the tS miners’ union in Colorado, has been getting some inside information on the way Colorado courts do things. In a fracas between a crowd of mine guards and a crowd of strik- ers a mine guard was killed, and, though it is admitted that Mr. Law- son was nowhere in the vicinity at the time, the fact that he was leader of the strikers’ organization was con- sidered sufficient cause to have him arrested, tried, convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mr. Lawson's mistake lay in choos- ing the wrong calling. It would have been better for him to have been a bishop, for we have never heard of a bishop's being arrested for a crime committed by one of the communicants of his diocese. Or he might have been a lieutenant of militia, If we remem- ber rightly, a certain lieutenant of militia in Colorado was merely re- duced two or three files in rank for shooting a man down in cold blood. Or he could have been president of the Board of Trade or past grand mogul of the Sons of Forty-niners with perfect safety, but Colorado is e < not organized to deal gently with “DEM ENGLISHMANS HAS GOT A GUN DAT'LL KILL YOU FIVE MILES.” ‘ i ", , ” nion: heir leader: “Hun! DEY AIN'T COT NOTHIN’ ON DEM JUMMANS, W'Y, MAN, WID DER members of unions or t “E 0. 7 is GUNS, ALL DEY ASK TO KILL YOU 1S YO’ ADDRESS!” a metas REMARKABLE GUNS od comicbooks.com