Life, 1912-01-25 · page 32 of 44
Life — January 25, 1912 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page collects reader letters responding to Life's editorial stances. Key content: **Animal Rights vs. Child Discipline**: Alice Park criticizes Life for publishing spanking cartoons as humor while refusing to mock animal abuse. She argues this inconsistency undermines children's rights. **Religious Hypocrisy**: J.S. Hamilton mocks the "Religious Forward Movement" dinner at the upscale Hotel Astor, finding it absurd that clergymen feast luxuriously before preaching temperance—like Christ dining lavishly before teaching the apostles. **Vaccination Debate**: W.A. Groves defends vaccination against Life's apparent anti-vaccine stance, citing medical statistics showing smallpox mortality plummeted from 3,000 per million (pre-vaccine) to near-zero by 1890. **Suffrage**: An incomplete letter from "L.L.B." addresses suffragettes' claims that political activism doesn't neglect domestic duties. These letters reflect early 20th-century progressive debates: animal welfare, religious authenticity, public health, and women's rights.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
To rwe Evitor oF Lire: Dear Six.—Lire prints pictures of animals in pain and makes the pictures and legends teach the rights of animals. : would not print a picture of a horse being beaten or a dog being kicked and use it for a joke. Good. Lire does, however, print pictures of children being spanked—not to teach the rights of children, but to make a laugh. Spanking is not funny You receive bushels of letters. think about this one. Page 1081, December 14, and page 1142, December 21, are not funny. The “comic” similar pic- tures. We expect more of Lire. If you showed a picture of a spanked then another of a parent spanked by a giant of proportionate size, your point would be good, though not funny even then. us can’t see Please supplements use child, and in blows inst weak Some of fun struck by powerful ‘ones. nimals. Yours respectfully, Auice: Park. Pato Auto, Cat, December 27, 1911. Fasting and Prayer Epitor oF Lire: Six.—There was recently held at the Hotel Astor a dinner given by the com- mittee having in charge the New York end of the Religious Forward Movement. To sce men sitting down amidst the se- ductive surroundings of that hostelry eating the tempting food and smoking good Havanas preparatory to going forth churchle of “Gay solemnly amusing. Imagine the Christ and His Apostles and Dis- ciples sitting down to a spread that would tickle the palate of the most f tidious bon vivant previous to adminis. their teachings to the masses. orward Movement will end just all revivals end—in a bubble. Very truly yours, J. S. Hautros, pelize the tering This where Newark, N. J. January 4, 1912. Some Figures Tor Live: I am not a constant reader of Lire, but the issue of November 2 I take it you have been saying things con- demnatory of vaccination. Have you ever taken the trouble to read one of the authorized medical text-books on the question? If the recognized medical authorities are not the best judges, then who is? Read this, taken from one of the best text-books I, as a medical man, know of—Gibson’s “ Handbook of Medi- cine,” a standard book in England: “In the Middle Ages the death toll of small- fox could be counted by millions. Be- fore the introduction of vaccine, just a century ago, the ennual mortality from the disease in England and Wales was at the rate of 3,000 in every million of the population. In 1890 smallpox caused only fifteen deaths in England; and the average annual number of deaths from this disease in the ten years 1881-1890 was 1227.8—i, ¢., only one-seventicth part of the death rate of pre-vaccination times, Thus great has been’ the boon conferred upon mankind by the discov- ery of Jenner.” And this makes no from account of the scarred faces and bodies of those who recovered. Are you will- ing to go back to pre-vaccination condi- tions? Even if you are your readers are entitled to the privilege of seeing these figures. You might set opposite them any figures you may have on the mortality of vaccinia. Your readers can then choose which disease is preferable, for all have the choice. Yours truly, W. A. Groves. Ripvcetown, Ont., November 5, 1911. From the State of Equal Rights CUT THIS OUT Anyone presenting this coupon to Mrs. Evelyn De Mar, 2101 E. First st., will be given free care for achild that the mother may be free to_do campaign work. The care will be given either by the hour or day. Dear Lire: Suffragettes contend, I believe, that their entering political activity causes them in no way whatever to neglect their children or home duties. Without passing opinion, I merely send you enclosed clipping (reprinted above) taken from a Los Angeles paper of recent date. Yours, LL. B. “SPE WERE, You TIS MORSE WAS LAME “wat, BEFORE, THE OLD RASCAL, FELLER THAT SOLD HIM TO ME wy pipx’t you 1 novcuT mim?” TELL ME DIDN'T SAY NOTHIN’ ANOUT IT, SO 1 THOUGHT IT WAS A SECRET