Life, 1899-11-02 · page 14 of 20
Life — November 2, 1899 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the Second Boer War (1899-1902) between Britain and the South African Republic (Transvaal). The dialogue features "Oom Paul" (Paul Kruger, Transvaal's president) defending his decision to resist British invasion rather than wait for more troops. **The satire's point:** Life mocks Britain's moral posturing. Kruger argues that since Britain would "rob and loot" the Transvaal regardless, resisting immediately makes sense—waiting for sympathy is futile, like the spider's trap metaphor (suggesting England deceives with false reasonableness). The silhouette cartoon titled "Polly Stifler" (right) appears to show a woman with a telephone or similar device—possibly commenting on communication or public discourse surrounding the war. The bottom cartoon about "aerial navigation" seems unrelated editorial commentary. This represents American sympathy for the underdog Boers against imperial British expansion.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“ ELLO. This theTransvaal” “Yes. Who are you?” “T want Oom Paul. This you, uncle?” “Yes, This is—?” “Lire, You got mad pretty quick, didn’t you?” “Oh, I don’t know. What did you expect?” “Well, uncle, you might have waited.” “For what?” “ Until England landed all her troops and had you firmly by the throat. Then you could have protested with better effcct, and—" “Yes, Lire, and been robbed just the same. We may be small compared with England, but we know our business. As long as we were going to be robbed and looted of our rights anyway, why there wasn’t much use in sitting around trying to awaken useless sympathy when the robbery had already begun.” ‘Guess you are right, Oom Paul. But England says you don’t understand this thing.” “Don't, eh?” “Tf you would only listen to reason now.” “Yes, Lire. That's what the spider sald to the The Commodore: INDEED, LADIES, 1 BELIEVE DAT AIRIAL NABAGATION 18 A POSSIBILITY, AN’ DAT IN DE NEAR PUTURE WE WILL BE MOVIN’ FRO DE AIR— comicbooks.com