Life — January 29, 1903 — page 15: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This political illustration by Wilfrid Huggins depicts two military officers in conversation beside a ship's wheel, under five stars labeled "Honesty," "Loot," "Greed," "Colonization," and "Truth." The cartoon satirizes imperial military leadership and colonial ambitions. The quote from Kipling's "The Rowers" sarcastically asks what moral "reckoning" guides their navigation—implying the answer is the five vices displayed above rather than virtuous principles. The ship's wheel and nautical setting suggest steering a nation's course. This appears to be commentary on early-20th-century military imperialism, criticizing how colonial powers justified expansion through rhetoric of "truth" and "honesty" while actually being motivated by greed, looting, and territorial conquest.