Life, 1916-12-21 · page 7 of 36
Life — December 21, 1916 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main illustration depicts a formal dinner scene with well-dressed figures in evening wear. The caption quotes "The Magnate" complaining that labor's demands threaten civilization and that "the workman is no longer satisfied with the necessities of life." **The satire:** This targets wealthy industrialists who resent workers' demands for better conditions beyond bare subsistence. The irony is that the magnate voices this complaint while dining at an elaborate, luxurious meal—highlighting the hypocrisy of the rich claiming workers' expectations are unreasonable while they themselves enjoy abundant excess. The accompanying text discusses post-World War I social unrest and references Francis Bacon's "Riverbank Research Laboratories," appearing to satirize predictions about future social upheaval and the wealthy's detachment from ordinary people's struggles.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Magnate: wt, MY DEAR LADY, THE DEMANDS OF THE LADORING CL. A ME, OUR CIVILIZATION, THE WORKMAN IS NO LONGER SATISFIED WITH THE NECESSAKIES OF LIFE Would Like to Hear from Bacon [ the early weeks of the war there was a feeling shared * by many that the catastrophe was so enormous that the spiritual world would have to take a visible hand in it. There was an expectation of revelations at least, and the lively hope of celestial help found an expression in the stories of the angel cohorts at the battle of Mons. Those hopes gradually died out. Prophecies ceased to be interesting, and people settled down gradually to the ding-dong of a long, desperate war. But still there is a feeling that the world that comes out of it will be a dif- ferent world from the one that went in, and will have important accessions of knowledge, and profit by them. There is a targe appetite for the unexpected and in- credible left unappeased in the world. People still want a forecast of human affairs by some high authority, that will help them form an opinion whether it is worth while to go on with life. That is one thing that ought to stimulate interest in the researches of Brother Fabyan’s Riverbank Research Laboratories into the far-seeing mind of Francis Bacon. Failing other prophets, any forecasts of human destiny that the Riverbank Researchers by the aid of the bi-literal cipher can dig out of Francis Bacon ought to find a hungry market. Betterment HE Tribune has turned over a new leaf. It has quit railing at Wilson. It even finds good to say (Novem- ber 16th) of the British army. The election has done the Tribune good. Not Informed You seldom hear of a Jew committing a crime. —Billy Sunday in Boston, OTS of them commit crimes daily in New York, Billy. Ask anybody about that. ORSES are allowed to fall on slippery pavements be- cause it costs seventy-five cents to roughen their shoes. comicbooks.com