Life, 1919-06-12 · page 30 of 46
Life — June 12, 1919 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces: **"Where You Passed"** is a sentimental poem by Amelia Josephine Burr about romantic memory—standard romantic verse of the era. **"A Fantasy in A-Flat"** is the satirical centerpiece. It mocks an unnamed pompous authority figure ("the Man from the North") who fantasizes about becoming "General Manager of the World." He wishes to control all international affairs—Iceland's rights, Tierra del Fuego's finances, even guanaco breeding—without consultation. His civilian adviser humorously indulges him, eventually suggesting he consult actual industrial titans (Standard Oil, U.S. Steel, Southern Pacific) for advice. The satire targets wealthy industrialists' inflated egos and imperial ambitions during the early 20th century, when powerful business moguls wielded enormous geopolitical influence. The humor lies in the absurdity of one man wanting to micromanage global affairs, and the adviser's deadpan agreement with his delusions. The "puzzle picture" shows a wedding scene where readers must locate the "groom's rival"—a separate visual game unrelated to the text.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Where You Passed LONG the forest path we took I walk alone to-day Between white drifts of loveliness, New-flowered by the way. Lightly did we meet, my dear, And smiling did we part— But where you passed there is a trail Of blossoms in iny heart elmelia Josephine Burr, A Fantasy in A-Flat 'HE Man from the North entered the apartments of his chief civilian adviser with his slow, sweet, melan- choly and ineffably dignified | smile. Having assured himself that they were alone, he placed his mocha gloves care- fully in his silk hat, removed his frock coat and hung it over the back of a chair, loosened his suspenders, pulled up his trousers to make sure they wouldn't bag at the knees, and seated himself on a stiff chair, Edward,” said he, permitting his to fall into the lines which made m look like a perpetual eater of un- ripe persimmons, “Edward, I wish to be the General Manager of the World. There are so many things, Edward, that do not agree with my ideas that I feel I should enlarge my sphere of influence. Nothing should occur any- where, Edward, without having my Oh Keh on it. Whenever wants to make a treaty dealing with Iceland her rights to. sell or whenever Tierra del Fuego wants bond issue for the purpose of improv- > get out a ing the breed of guanacos, or anythin of that nature, Edward, 1 must and shall be consulted; for it is highly probable that they won't know what they’re doing. and it is quite impera- tive that I should set them right be- THE ORIGINS fore they go too far astray rate, Edward, I want to be the Gen- eral Manager of the Worl “Ah,” purred the chief civilian ad- viser in the fluent manner which has so endeared him to men who want to talk always and listen never. “Now, from the North, “what do you think 1 should do in order to be General Manager of the World? Do you think I should consult somebody?” ward,” continued the Man “Certainly,” said the civilian ad viser. “What you want to do is to get the opinions and ideas of the big- gest and best general managers of the world. Get 'em from the Standard Oi Company and the United States Steel Company and the Southern Pa- cific and the Pennsylvania and such places as that.” The Man from the North shook his head decisively vo, Edward,” said (Continued on page 1039) PUZZLE PICTURE | THE GROOM'S RIVAL WAS INVITED TO THE WEDDING. FIND HIM, comicbooks.com