Life, 1899-11-09 · page 3 of 20
Life — November 9, 1899 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page 363 Analysis This page from Life magazine (circa 1902, based on the "Holiday Costume for 1902" caption) satirizes American military culture through two illustrations and accompanying verse. The left image shows an American admiral in ornate dress uniform with elaborate embroidery, captioned "Holiday Costume for American Admiral at Home." The right depicts a Scottish Highlander in traditional tartan, labeled "Carnegie Boot and Plaid for the Highlands." The poem "Song of the 'Average American'" mocks American materialism and military spending—complaining about taxes, the Spanish-American War costs, and American consumption habits. The dialogue below titled "Dubious Generosity" appears to joke about patriotic pretense masking selfish motives. The satire critiques American military excess and the gap between patriotic rhetoric and actual values during the post-Spanish-American War period.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
D ib THER D, aso WHICR rHING EFINE 10N jerstand BOLIDAY COSTUME FOR AMERICAN ADMIRAL AT HOME. CIFE'S FASHIONS FOR 1900. Song of the « Average American.” HO says the cruel war is done ? He never fired a fiscal gun, SJ Or bought a tariff stamp: He nover fed tho War Machine With sticky steaks of red and greon, Right thousand miles from camp, I food it—durn it !—every day, And lick, and date, and paste away On lading, bill and cheque: And say, with every two-cent shot— “Some Filipino’s gone to pot; He's got It in the neck!” And though iny proxtes antedate, My telegrams pay extra freight— But carry just as far: The porter’s eye ts never lax And someony pays thy Wagner tax— For Murs is iu thy car, Bo, everything we buy bas riz: For “ war is Hell," but biz. is biz.— And neither seoms to cease, Why can’t they call the war-dogs off? Aud let us cough an untaxed cough, And smoke an untaxed Peace? Wo envy thoso heroic men Who only have to tax the pen, With tales of “army beans ”— For they could lick the Spanish scamps While we may only lick the stamps, And read the maguzines, It, @. G, CAMNEGIE HOOT MON PLAID YOR THE HIGHLANDS, Dubious Generosity. RS. HENPECK: It cost a great deal to keep me in the country all summer, Hexrecx: Yes, my dear, but youknow I never begrudged the money. SOLDIER'S monument, with the Goddess of Liberty on the top. Two small boys gazing up at it with admiration. Jouxsie (very solemnly): Is that God up there ? Witte (full of patriotism): No—that’s Dewey's mother.