Life, 1916-05-25 · page 16 of 40
Life — May 25, 1916 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical story mocks wealthy early-20th-century households obsessed with modern labor-saving technology. Mr. Mellon-Cutter has purchased numerous electric appliances (dish-washer, bed-maker, carpet-beater, dog-scrubber, apple-peeler) to reduce servant work. The irony: his wife is distraught because she now has *too few* servants—only nine, while wealthy peers boast seventeen or nineteen. The appliances have reduced her need for household staff, which embarrasses her socially and removes her identity as a society hostess managing a large domestic staff. The story satirizes the paradox of wealthy women whose status depends entirely on conspicuous consumption and idle leisure. Technology meant to ease labor instead becomes a status liability, exposing the absurdity of upper-class values: the machines work perfectly, but the family cannot maintain social standing without enough servants to employ. The bottom cartoon caption—"See no danger, hear no danger, talk no danger"—appears unrelated to the main story.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“PRUFESSIUNALS VS. Over-Systematized ”) HAT, my dear! Crying again?” culated the wealthy and effi- cient Mr. Mellon-Cutter, “ What's the matter this time? Surely there’s noth- ing wrong about the house! Only yes- terday I had that newly invented el tric kindling-splitter installed. Doesn't it work all right?” “Oh, yes” sobbed the young and decorative Mrs, Mellon-Cutter. “Oh, yes, indeed! But the servants——" “The servants ought to realize that they're having a pretty easy time of it! Don't they have the use of the electric dish-washer and the automatic bed- maker that 1 purchased a few weeks ago?” “T know, dear, but “No buts, madam! Do they ever have any trouble with the self-starting carpet-beater, or the electric cream- whipper, or the patented apple-peeler and corer?” No, no, Joel; it isn't that! It’s — “Why, the servants don’t even have to wash your Pomeranians since I have had the combination dog-scrubber and. clothes-wringer installed in the laundry. There's only one more thing that I can do for them, and that’s to put in an automatic novel-reader. Say the word, my dear, and I'll have an inventor start work on it to-morrow.” Mrs. Mellon-Cutter shuddered vio- lently and pressed her tear-stained against the second button of Mr. Mel- lon-Cutter's immaculate waistcoat “Don't you dare,” she sobbed, “don't vou dare to put another labor-saving device in this house! Try as I will, I can’t possibly find work for more than nine servants. Mrs. Loadsa Kale has seventeen of them, and Mrs. D. \V Dend has nineteen. Every woman in our set is talking about me, and sa that I don’t know any better than to try to be useful around the house, and that I am ruining my feminine charm hy thinking about housework, because I am too penurious to spend a little more and get five or six servants to think for me! Oh, I'm so unhappy that I don’t know what to do!” Snatching a bottle of smelling salts from the table, Mrs. Mellon-Cutter AMATEURS” flung herself upon a divan and gave way to cultured and tearless grief, while Mr, Mellon-Cutter staggered from the room in crushed silence, which is one of the most potent forms of silence known to scientific circles. K. 1. Roberts. Great is People of me the world’s great- s for $i0; those in moderate America! ces may obtain phonographic records of the same voices for $2.50, while the very poor can see the same singers act in the movies for a din SEE NO DANGER — HEAR NO DANGER — TALK NO DANGER comicbooks.com