Life, 1911-12-28 · page 25 of 41
Life — December 28, 1911 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top photograph shows women suffragists picketing with signs reading "VOTES FOR WOMEN" and a restaurant advertisement, contrasting their serious political activism with a commercial message. This satirizes the visibility clash between women's suffrage demonstrations and everyday commerce in urban America (likely 1910s-1920s). The accompanying essay by Agnes Repplier criticizes the misuse of the American flag abroad—specifically mentioning a Brussels hat shop using flags as window decoration and a Black boxer wearing the flag as a loincloth. Repplier argues this degrades national pride and calls for diplomatic intervention. The bottom cartoon "Not in Her Family" depicts a humorous exchange where Mrs. Pokus responds to a comment about her son being an "advanced thinker" (likely meaning someone interested in evolution/Darwinism) by joking that if he descended from monkeys, it must be on his father's side—a gender-based insult disguised as a joke about evolutionary theory.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
She \ He i POOR THING! no new complaint on the part of American residents in Eu- rope. Why should the Stars and Stripes be used in foreign cities for the commonest purposes of advertisement? The proprictor of a Brussels hat shop sticks a little American flag into every hat in his window, and distributes these flags to passers-by to call attention to his wares. Two years ago a negro prize fighter, who was giving exhibitions of boxing in Belgium, wore the American flag as a loin cloth, and huge pictures of him so decorated were posted up in every Belgian city. It would be hard to find a lower depth of degradation for the emblem of our national pride. Perhaps some of our representatives abroad might see to it that the flag is at least outwardly respected in Europe as it is outwardly respected at home. Agnes Repplier. Not in Her Family M® HOKUS: Your son is one of those advanced thinkers, isn’t he? Mrs. Pokus: Yes, he has an idea he descended from a monk but I tell him if he did it must have been on his “WAIT A MINUTE, MOTHER, HE'S GOING father’s side. TO SING.” comicbooks.com