Life, 1912-02-22 · page 16 of 44
Life — February 22, 1912 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces of satire: **Main cartoon (top):** A horseman labeled "Ballingford" bursts through a doorway with the caption "SIT STILL, PAL! THIS AIN'T NOTHIN' TO WOT 'E WILL DO!" The imagery satirizes American newspaper correspondents abroad as brash, invasive intruders. **"Ballingford in China" story:** A humorous fictional account where an American reporter casually breaks into Chinese President Sun Yat-Sen's palace and offers to write him a constitution—poking fun at American imperial arrogance and the assumption that Americans could casually "fix" foreign governments. Sun Yat-Sen had recently (1912) established the Chinese Republic, and the satire mocks American presumptuousness about involvement in non-Western affairs. **Brief items:** Two short jokes about the Duke of Connaught's visit conflicting with Cardinal Farley's honor (social comedy about society's divided loyalties), and a lawyer quip about consulting physicians. The overall tone satirizes American interventionism and self-assured naiveté about global affairs.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
"LIP E- “SIT STILL, PAL! THIS AIN'T NOTHIN’ To WoT ’E will po!” Unfortunate I" was a great pity that the Duke of Connaught came amongst us just at the time when we were trying to honor Cardinal Farley. There are a great many of us who would have liked to take in both events, to show our diamonds to the Duke as well as show our meekness and lowliness to the Cardinal. Naturally, we could not bend our knees in two places at the same time, and accordingly we had to make an embarrassing selection of obeisances between the select of earth and the select of heaven. Revised AWYER:,Ltre says that a consult- ing physician is “one who is called in at the last minute to share the blame.” Discruntiep Heir: estate would be better. To share the CHERRY Ballingford in China Breaks Into President's Palace and Fixes Things Up With Sun Yat-Sen—Everything Now O. K. BY J. BOUNDER BALLINGFORD, Special correspondent to “ Life.” EKING, February 13—I have been running around the Chinese Empire now for several days trying to locate my old friend, Sun Yat-Sen, who, when he was living incog. New York, roomed with me at the Mills Hotel. Yesterday I broke into the president's palace with the aid of a couple of editorial writers that I had brought with me from New York to help me get out my space, and after considerable difficulty I managed to get hold of my old friend, “ Just like you American newspaper men,” he said play- fully, “you have such delightful naive ways. Now, if you had rung the front door bell and had been admitted in the regular manner, you couldn’t have created the right atmosphere, could you?” “Never!” I exclaimed, opening up a bottle of wine and a fresh box of cigars from his humidor. “ Well, old fel- low,” I said, smoking up, “how do you like running a Republic? I thought I would better come over here and in stay around in case you needed any help. Of course, my idea is,” I went on, “not to interfere with you unless you need help. It’s the only way you can grow,” I added en- couragingly, slapping him on the back. Sun Yat-Sen is a rather small man, with a refined face. He came from the country, and I think he began his career on a newspaper route. At any rate, it was quite evident that he appreciated my coming. “You couldn’t possibly write out a constitution for me, could you?” he said. “T keep half a dozen constitutions in my traveling bag,” I replied, “just for new countries which are starting up. CHESTNUT comicbooks.com