Life, 1898-10-06 · page 15 of 20
Life — October 6, 1898 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes American imperialism and cultural attitudes toward the Philippines (a U.S. colony following the 1898 Spanish-American War). The top cartoon depicts wild animals in the colonies, representing chaos in newly conquered territories. The text references the "Luzon Sorosis"—a women's club in the Philippines—debating whether to adopt American women's fashions. The satire mocks two things simultaneously: American women's revealing modern clothing (shown in the shocking photograph of bare shoulders) and Filipino women's resistance to Western dress. The joke targets American moral hypocrisy—Americans impose "civilization" on colonies while their own fashion norms are scandalous by conservative standards. The Filipinas' horrified reaction underscores the cultural clash between American modernity and local values. The left cartoon shows a golfer alone ("Can I scorch?"), contrasting leisurely American sports with the implication that colonial life offers more "vigorous" male pursuits—suggesting imperial adventure replaces comfortable home life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT REPORTS EVERYTHING WIDE OPEN IN OUR NEW COLONIES. The Change of Sports. the Philippines, listen to the dictates of HE melancholy days havo como; those women across the seas, and consent Tho saddest of the year to array ourselves in such—such awful For the dudelet, playing golf alone garments as this?” Through meadows brown and sero, Bo saying, she passed around for fn- He whacks the ball, and vainly sighs spection a photograph of one of New’ For those companions fair, Fob _ York's society women, clad in a gown Who, leaving him, huve turned their oyes that really was shockingly Jow-cut. It To men of brawn and hair, exposed to full view both shoulders. A ripple of horror ran around the A Momentous Question. group. The palm-leaf fans fluttered T was an important meeting of vigorously. Then, as in one voice, the the Luzon Sorosis, The %sembled multitude cried: “Nol ‘| Never!” uestion for debate was the pro- “6 posed modification of feminine _ “! should say not,” said the spokes: attire to conform to the fashions pee ile ¢ thei . of the “stepmother: - country, adopting such a dress as that, here! America. “Shall we,” exclaimed the Why, we should simply swelter in speaker, “shall we, women of iu” Paul West, “CAN 1 SCORCH?” “THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE WERE FOR.” comicbooks.com