Life — April 6, 1916 — page 49: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This appears to be a political cartoon depicting "The Old Woman of the Sea," identified as "J.D." (likely J. Pierpont Morgan or similar prominent businessman of the era, though the exact figure is unclear from the initials alone). The illustration shows an elderly woman in a gondola on water, styled as a caricature of wealth and excess. She holds what appears to be a bottle labeled "BUTLER" and displays exaggerated features typical of Gilded Age satire. The cartoon likely references the nursery rhyme "The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe," using that familiar reference to mock a wealthy industrialist—suggesting this figure controls vast resources ("the sea") and lives extravagantly. The satirical point appears to criticize monopolistic power or excessive wealth accumulation by a prominent capitalist figure of the period.