Life, 1915-08-05 · page 31 of 44
Life — August 5, 1915 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes wealthy American elites as profoundly uninteresting and intellectually shallow. The cartoon depicts what appears to be a street confrontation, captioned "A Danger Signal"—likely illustrating one of the character sketches below. The text presents three wealthy figures: a railroad president with no ideas beyond business; a banker who discusses only stocks and bonds despite his cultured appearance; and a society matron famous for asking "Why should there be so much poverty?" yet incapable of meaningful thought. A final jab targets Henry Ford's recent dietary advice, suggesting that following his suggestion to eat less by patronizing expensive restaurants would paradoxically waste money while providing worse nutrition—mocking Ford's faith in "efficient" solutions to complex social problems. The satire's point: America's wealthy and powerful are vapid conformists lacking genuine intellect or originality, despite their social status. The closing reference to "Kultur" versus "Killtur" appears to mock Germanic intellectual pretension.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
been in existence for fifty years, and no commencement address within the memory of man has contained one atom of originality. If we should break the rule with your masterly address all our college traditions would be shattered and I should lose my job. Morning, sir.” Uninteresting People RY HOBBLETON, president of the X., Y., Z. Railroad, is H considered by many as the most unin- teresting man in America. Aside from the railroad business, in which he had made a considerable success, he hasn't an idea in his head. J. Bungleton Bungleton, as every- A DANGER SIGNAL body knows, is our most eminent banker. He is a graduate of college, and has traveled extensively abroad. He talks, however, of nothing but stocks and bonds. He has a round, moonlike face, with almost as much expression to it as the side of a barn, and he reads the newspapers. Mrs. Montague Von Jones-Mutt, our most distinguished society leader, has become more or less famous from her historic phrase, uttered so many years ago and so often quoted, namely, “ Why should there be so much poverty?” She once read a Chambers novel, and can give a dinner. Many believe that her dullness will not be in vain, but will live after her. An Easy Matter M* HENRY FORD, in common with Brother Edison, believes that people eat too much, and in his superbly efficient way proposes to do something practical to stop it. Mr. ford’s advice is easy to demonstrate in this town. All one need do is to take the same moncy which has been spent in cating at home and use it up in the restaurants. Less real nourish- ment for more money can probably be obtained in a New York restaurant than anywhere else in the world. W move to amend Kultur to ma it read Killtur. comicbooks.com