Life, 1920-01-22 · page 8 of 36
Life — January 22, 1920 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the 1912 presidential election cycle by publishing absurd application letters from ordinary citizens claiming qualifications for the presidency. The applicants boast of modest accomplishments—building a coal business, maintaining income within fifty thousand annually—as if these credentials suited them for high office. The cartoon below depicts a woman on a train rejecting romantic attention with the dismissive line: "Don't you ever read the papers?" She claims to have read nothing but love letters and checks for four years—suggesting she's entirely removed from current events and news, making her perfectly unqualified (and thus humorously ideal) for the presidency. The satire mocks both actual candidates' actual qualifications and public indifference to politics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Sisce the announcement in last wee Lire of our preferred list of presidential candidates, applications have been steadily These will be judged strictly on + their merits. ie ))) From the entire list we confident- pouring in. ly hope to secure someone who will suit One man writes: “T should like to be President if you think I can do it without any interference with my regular busi- ness. I have built up a pretty fair trade as a coal dealer, and should hate to be thrown out on the world at the end of four years with an income of only forty or fifty thousand a year. The neighbors all like and fear me, “BUT, MY DEAR YOUNG WOM. LIFE Our Presidential Department and I am considered the best-dressed man in my vicinity. I could contribute about a million or so to the campaign fund, if that would help any. I be- lieve I could settle the labor question hy doubling the price of coal and other things, and giving the workmen a ten- per-cent. rake-off and a nice Christ- mas gift each year. In case of any dispute with foreign countries, ] would he willing to run down to Washington for a few days and settle it.” Another man writes: “TL believe I have every qualification for President. I have never made a speech or written anything over five I have al- ways lived within my income, and hundred words in length would be willing to associate person- ally with any man who is put up as Vice-President. Need I say more?” Still another : “T should be willing to be President if, after it is over, I could be assured in some way that my reputation woul: not be permanently damaged. \fy friends and neighbors like me vers well, and after working four years | should hate to have to go back to them and find that they were unwilling to associate with me. Can you guarante: against this sort of thing?” We cannot. Any one of our numer ous applicants who may, through this department, become President, has got to take his own chances. We beliey in being honest with all in giving fac as they are. One of our minority a ciates, for instance, has written the fo! lowing, which he wished us to put ow as an alluring bid to induce people run. We give it merely to show th depths of deceit some enthusiasts wil resort to, “Think of what it means for 4 personally to become President. | the morning, say about nine, you wi! be aroused from your gentle slumber DON’T YOU EVFR READ THE PAPERS?” Flossie (of the Summer Garden Company) : SAY, 1 HAVEN'T RFAD ANYTHING BUT LOVE LETTERS AND CHECKS FOR POUR YEARS. comicbooks.com _ s