Life, 1909-12-09 · page 8 of 32
Life — December 9, 1909 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical cartoon depicts **Uncle Sam** (identifiable by his characteristic top hat and star-spangled outfit) as a towering figure wielding a telescope, overlooking a procession of smaller figures. The caption reads: "KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. I'LL PRESERVE DISCIPLINE." The cartoon appears to comment on American imperialism or foreign policy intervention. Uncle Sam supervises what seems to be colonial subjects or nations under U.S. control, using the telescope as a symbol of surveillance and oversight. The phrase "preserve discipline" suggests the U.S. maintaining control over subordinate territories or peoples through watchful authority. The overall message critiques America's imperial posture and paternalistic attitude toward other nations or peoples, presenting it as heavy-handed supervision rather than genuine partnership.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE GREAT WHITE WAY Uncle Sam: Keer UP THE GOOD WORK. 1'LL PRESERVE DISCIPLINE Samples of Magazine Poetry (NOTE: Editors who wish to fill out A Ballad of Sin And with grave mien no heart hath seen, @ page of their periodic a at os last i 9 Laughs at me utterly? Samples at greatly lowered prices.) OW who is this that walks with me Soul, canst thou never see? : Upon the Road to Hell? (More, if desired.) Truth And who is this, with sign and kiss, " . 5 S That bids me shriek and yell? : BY ELLA WHEELER WILCOX & GIBBS Lam the Soul of All Things Lost, A Sonnet of Passion many Dodds, so many Meads, The Griels th a hy ELSIE PARKEK any books that grind and grind, BE GOSS ERE NO: MEN Let. J While just the art of being dined . IE down with me upon the crimson : And who is this, with awful leer, : Is all the author needs. Pe clk grass; That stalks with me, Kiss thou my arms, my feet, my head, « Rue and Remembrance my hands; It is not every soul who understands, It is not meet our golden moon should pass. Too swiftly reel the hours. Alack! alas? BY CLINTON DOLLARD EIGHHO! for rue! A rhyme I'll weave in the wild weather ; We two, one long-lost tim We two were once t ther. But now—the lonely lane, The r-encinctured sk; The rippling mills of rain, And It Bind me all firmly with hot Passion’s bands, And, in the burning desert's fearful sands, Rule me with rods of iron, bits of brass. Thus shall I learn the mystic, eryptic Spring and Autumn RY BLISS COMMON The Word unuttered and Life's holo- Ww! EN the purple asters S Mey? Nes And vermilion sky =U; wes aust; SS Thus shall I find at last all meaning In the scarlet autumn wly wander b: Slowly wander by ¢ myself in all that has been When the shrilling pee- nil hen the shrilling pee-wee 4 Until, low at thy shrine, I count the Peeps his yellow son: And the April vang 4 > a Mises at en “ah ‘ 4 Wasted, that have not known thy fruit- alas ; ful praise (A sonnet sequence, of which the above is a fair specimen, can be furnished at @ moment's notice, either by ‘phone or telegraph, or while the boy waits.) Then the ancient Mother And the whispered Word Sing their Sursum Corda Mortals have not heard. (Ard so on, ad infinitum.) Charles Hanson Towne. comicbooks.com