Life, 1919-06-05 · page 41 of 46
Life — June 5, 1919 — page 41: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page mixes advertising with satirical social commentary. The left side features "Money on Man," a poem by Roscoe Brumbaugh criticizing economic inequality. The speaker—appearing to represent the working middle class—complains that while factory and farm workers gain wage increases, those gains cascade upward: higher rents, increased prices, and inflation. He "pays the piper" without benefiting, always losing when "someone wins." The satire targets the illusion of shared prosperity. When workers win wage increases, landlords and merchants capture those gains through raised costs, leaving ordinary people no better off—despite headlines celebrating worker victories. The remainder of the page contains period automobile and cigar advertisements (Pantasote car tops, Cuesta-Rey cigars), typical of Life's business model. The castle image advertises Marmon automobiles as luxury vehicles.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
helf century's. manu- a ifmaterisls: and above all, the ut most in working satisfaction 1s “Sen you choose © VANIA" Quality Mower = a Member of the Idle Classes cers win a shorter day The ¢ is passed along to me; With larger foxes, larger pay, The rent comes higher, too, you see. 4nd so it goes all down the line, From shovs and clothes to light and heat ; - 7 es = No old-time luxuries for mine— im. Zo GA Raglan Castle T'm thankiul now if I can eat. : s Monmouthshire Let none begrudge the pay they get On farm, in factory and mill; But every increased wage that’s met Is added to my grocer’s bill. Ido not figure in the game; There's nothing offered me to can only be proved by fong experience. ess DMarmon car, for instance, hate used cho live I pay the piper, just the same— When someone wins, I always lose. in those Roscoe Brumbaugh. est, will ‘Money on Man exclusively as standard equipment on Dllarmon cars continuously since Western © : < AM twenty dollars—a double-cagle 1912, Me top material is too gaod for your car. MRR ie 283 PIERCE ARROW = MARMON =» MERCER = WHITE = COLUMBIA Money. I have read thousands of SCRIPPS BOOTH = PREMIER =—-REO SIX) COLL CADILLAC on me by Man. PAIGE LINWOOD HUDSON KISSEL CHALMERS LOCOMOBILE Look for Pantasote Label inside the top—it protects you against substitution which is not uncommon endered ngs they have said about the root of all evil, the The Pantasote Company - Bowling Green Building, New York City the whip that- makes i a the sinews of war, the arse of t' world, I, O. U., chink, the ffecting Exclusive Havano Cigar JADE IN BON! 4 Jib e uamanrce But some day Money—take it from almighty dollars, Little Wherewithal— and several thousand other things. ACAD THE WHITE STAMP ON CACH BOX— me—is going to write a soliloquy on Man. What we don’t know about Old Nick’s partner is aot worth knowing. We have a few secrets up our sleeves, and when we air the truth about Man, Hamlet’s solil will sound like a psalm in comparison, “Man: A Soli y by an I. O. U.” Dali seal ; 4 ' . 3 an A Soliloquy by an I. O. U Dollars 3 - - will be my title, and it will last till the al Rotes o baa ns » —— crack of two or three dooms. STANDS comicbooks.com