Life, 1908-02-06 · page 15 of 36
Life — February 6, 1908 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical story mocks the U.S. Navy's reliance on **political connections** over merit. A young Naval Academy graduate seeking advancement discovers that without "politics," he has no future in the Navy—despite his credentials. When he approaches the White House for a position, officials reject him as a "regular graduate," accusing him of trying to "disrupt the Navy" by wanting to advance through proper channels rather than patronage. The joke's bitter edge: he only succeeds by abandoning the Navy entirely for the **Rockefeller Medical Institute**, where he ironically boasts he'll eventually "command a whole fleet"—highlighting how talent leaves the Navy due to its dysfunction. The final paragraph shifts tone, sarcastically complaining that naval officers in South America receive lavish hospitality (champagne) while Congress refuses adequate **ammunition appropriations**—suggesting misplaced priorities and wasteful spending on social niceties rather than military readiness. The satire targets early 1900s **military bureaucracy, political favoritism, and congressional negligence**.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE AMERICAN The Way It Works “(COURAGE!” 1 It was evening at Annapolis. As the young naval graduate clasped the girl of his choice to his heart, he said: “Never fear, darling, we will be happy yet !” “T don’t see how we can be,” she replied, tearfully. “You are nothing but a regular graduate. Alas, dear, what hope have you to succeed in the Navy?” “While there’s politics there’s always hope,” he muttered, not only wisely but almost too well. A long line of physicians and surgeons stood in front of the White House waiting for positions in the Army and } Among them, unnoticed, but filled with secret hope, stood the young graduate. At last his time came. “Your diploma, please?” “Alas, sire! I haven't a Yo hospital experience ? “None whatever, but I’m willi er been in an ambulance?” “Never; Iam a regular naval graduate.” “Then what are youdoing here? Ah, sce, trying to disrupt the Navy. Trying with insidious skill to undermine our per- sonnel. Sir, it is your duty to take your place in the ranks. And when, in forty or fifty years, you have served a long and honor- able carcer, you will receive the usual letter of condemnation.” TREADMILL “But I love another.”” “So much the worse. the rest of your life.” “Can’t I marry my loved one and take her with me?” “Never. We need all the extra room for war corre- spondents. Avaunt!”* Go to the Philippines and stay there ur It was two weeks later. As the bell rang, the young girl, her eyes filled with hope, sprang down stairs In a moment our hero clasped her in his arms “Well, darling, all is ready. We can get married at any time now.” “Do you really mean it?” “Yes.” “Then you have succeeded.” “I should say I had! I've just gotten a position in the Rockefeller Medical Institute. It is true, the salary is small, but ina few years I shall know enough about medical science to command a whole fleet.”” 'HE heart bleeds to think of the hospital our naval officers of the battleship fleet are receiving in South America, and of how it must strain their meager resources to make even the most modest return for them. It is a serious thing for a fleet to be bombarded with champagne as ours was at , when Congress declines to make any apprecia- ble provision of ammunition for a return fire. comicbooks.com