Life, 1921-03-24 · page 15 of 34
Life — March 24, 1921 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This political cartoon depicts **King Coal** as a crowned, demonic figure presiding over an industrial landscape of smokestacks and factories. Below, masses of workers toil in a quarry or mine, while the King Coal figure hoards wealth above them. The satire critiques the coal industry's exploitation of labor and environmental destruction during America's industrial era. The "beast" refers to both the inhuman King Coal personification and the brutal system it represents. Workers are depicted as enslaved masses serving an all-powerful industrial oligarch. The cartoon advocates for labor rights and criticizes unchecked industrial capitalism's human and environmental costs—a common theme in *Life* magazine's satirical commentary on American economic inequality and worker conditions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
March 24 The Pen of a Ready Writer ERE in the United States there ought to be a new edition of the Complete Letter-Writer, to supply models for the friendly, considerate and complimentary epistles which men who have things for sale now write to men who have money to buy things with, There ought to be a Correspondence School to instruct beginners in the New Art of Correspondence and to impart the principles of the craft of cajoling us into purchas- ing what we don’t need and what we don’t want. Well-equipped instructors could be found among those who proclaim their abil- ity to compose Letters that Get Results.-Some of them are mas- ters of this department of literature, and they can almost convert the recipient of their missives to the belief that they are really slicitous for his comfort and fearful lest he may neglect to fill in the blank and sign on the dotted line before it is too hte to profit by their self-sacrificing offer. There is something truly touching—and “touching” is the exact word—in the familiar tone of a communication recently sent out by one of the Organs of the Uplift. It explains that new subscribers can get a ten-dollar book and a year’s sub- scription to the Organ of the Uplift for only eleven dollars and ahalf. “Really you mustn’t miss this chance. It’s too big— actually bigger than we are permitted to tell you.” That is heart-to-heart talk, appealing potently to the desire of most of us to get something for nothing. The book itself is almost 423 worth the money, and as for the Organ of the Uplift, “it is like finding it, and in a year in which you will need it as never be- fore. With a new administration coming in, with momentous decisions by the score about to be made, with the whole world looking to America for leadership—a journal of fact and opinion that is fearless and free can serve you well.” And if you subscribe for this subsidized Organ of Uplift, it will serve you right ! It would be a pity not to quote the final words of this inspired missive: “Simply pin your check to this card and return it to the address above. never be allowed to stand between an inquiring mind and intellectual riches!” What do you know about that? Perhaps some of the recipients of this persuasive epistle may recall the words of wisdom once uttered by Mark Twain “To be good is uoble, but to teach others to be good is nobler— and less trouble. BM. If You Get What He Means WRITER: Do you buy suggestions for screen dramas? Movie Macnate: Surest thing you know, brother—pro- vided the suggestions are suggestive enough. Money, we submit, should You might as well give the devil his due. He'll collect it anyhow. Xooty and the Beast. comicbooks.com