Life, 1919-08-21 · page 9 of 40
Life — August 21, 1919 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top cartoon depicts a garden conversation, with one man telling another: "Do you get anything out of your garden?" The response: "Sure, it keeps my hired man's family in vegetables." This satirizes wealthy people who hired gardeners—the joke being that the employer gained nothing while the employee's family benefited from produce. Below is a satirical article titled "Recipe for an Oil Company," which mocks stock manipulation and corporate fraud. It describes mixing officers and directors "who know nothing whatever about oil," adding false reports of successful wells, then heating the mixture of insider trading and false news to defraud small investors. The satire targets early 20th-century oil industry speculation and dishonest promotion practices.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“po YOU GET ANYTHING OUT OF YOUR GARDEN?” “SURE, IT KEEPS MY MIRED MAN'S FAMILY IN VEGETABLES.” Recipe for an Oil Company 'O a collection of officers and directors who know noth- ing whatever about oil, add a lease on land near where successful oi! wells are gushing, sift in a liberal list of would-be investors, after which stir well with a pro- moter who knows how to sell stock. Place this mixture on the stove of venture, agitate fre- quently by reports that the price of stock will advance at a certain time, alternated with news that new “ gushers” are being shot every day in surrounding leases, and when the mixture begins to heat bring it rapidly to the boil- ing point by adding that drilling is to begin within a week or two. When signs of oil are seen, endeavor to lower the tem- perature with adverse reports in order to freeze out the small investors. Set these small stockholders aside to cool, and proceed to reorganize in accordance with the original intention, and the Oil Company is ready to serve. Eyes ‘0-DAY, eyes, which used to he the windows of the soul, are only the blinds of -reason. There was a time when eyes saw; now they only look. comicbooks.com