Life, 1899-09-14 · page 9 of 20
Life — September 14, 1899 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 209 This page contains a satirical cartoon titled "In the Philippines" with the caption "Yes, victory 'awaits our boys. But—" The image depicts a dead or dying soldier lying on the ground in a tropical forest setting, with birch trees visible. The stark visual contrasts the optimistic rhetoric about American military victory with the grim reality of combat casualties. The accompanying text discusses whether Filipino insurgents qualify as "rebels." The article argues that if Americans would resist foreign occupation of their own territory, Filipinos deserve the same designation and justification for their resistance. This appears to critique American imperialism and the Philippine-American War, presenting anti-war commentary through dark humor and juxtaposing official optimism against battlefield suffering.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
209 Illogical. N observant person has just been ob- taining statistical proof that the English aro an impassive race, His method of reasoning to prove tho well-known truth that “the English take their plensure sad- ly" has been to count the people in various crowds, and note those whoso faces bore a smile or any expression of pleasure, Ho found the percentage a very small one, but, if all of his promises aro no better than tho one to which he points with the gre est pride, his conclu. sions aro valueless, and wo mightas well go back to tho old empirical statement about the sto- lidity of the English, Ho states as his strongest argument that ono day ho was passing Punch oMco, whoro hid just been pasted up, for the free edifleation of the British public, tho complete sheet of the latest issue, In front of this wero standing exactly twenty-two persons dovouring its contents, Of this number preeisoly two wore smiling, and theso only faintly. He docs not state whethor any of them were actually weoping. Rebels? W like to hear the expansionist press speak of Aguinaldo and his men as rebcls. What are they rebelling against ? What is a rebel? Were the Greeks at Marathon rebels? Were the Russians rebels when they resisted Napoleon ? If the United States should sell Long Island to Germany, and the Americans now residing on that island should resist, would they be rebels? If so, then are the Filipinos rebels. Otherwise not. F there were no women there would be no scan- dals—and this may be doubly interpreted. I" was reported from Pittsburg, when the Presi- dent was there, that Mr. McKinley was very tired. So are a number of his fellow-citizens in the United States. Also some other of his fellow-citi- zens who are chasing Filipincs and death, or disease, IN THE PHILIPPINES, over in Asia, ‘YES, VICTORY AWAITS OUR BOYS. BUT— comicbooks.com