Life, 1912-05-16 · page 19 of 52
Life — May 16, 1912 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page critiques the 1912 Democratic primary contest between **Woodrow Wilson** (the leading candidate) and **Champ Clark** (backed by William Randolph Hearst and conservative interests). The main article explains that wealthy Democratic opponents—Southern interests, Chicago's Hearst machine, and conservatives—united to support Clark as a weaker alternative to Wilson, whom they viewed as dangerous. The satire's point: they're using Clark to exhaust Wilson, not because they genuinely support Clark. Hearst particularly disguised himself as a "radical" ally of labor while secretly opposing Wilson. The photograph illustrates a scene from a play titled "Clark and Wilson," likely dramatizing this political conflict. The sidebar jokes ("From an Aeroplane," the burglar/watchdog pun) are unrelated humor filler typical of Life magazine's format—satirical but not politically pointed. **The core message**: Wilson's many enemies prove his integrity, yet they ironically make him fewer devoted friends through their coordinated opposition.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“YOU'LL SIMPLY HAVE TO LET IT GO, JACK. 1 CA T BEAR TO THAT 11's THE RIGHT MOUSE! Clark and Wilson HY did the Illinois Democrats in their primaries go so strong for Champ Clark? Well, Southern Mhnois, they tell us, is tributary to St. Louis, and St. Louis s Missouri, and Mr. Clark is Mis- souri’s favorite son; and Northern Illinois goes with Chicago, and in Chi- cago Mr. Hearst and his papers, ard we don’t know who else, have worked hard to beat Dr. Wilson, Worked and spent money, the papers say; for these Presidential primaries are expensive. Now, why should folks with money to spend spend it to get delegates for Mr. Clark? Possibly because he looks to them like the weakest Democratic can- didate that could be put up, and the one most available to use to beat Dr. Wilson, Dr. Wilson, being the lead- ing candidate, has the field against him, and Mr. Clark, hard ridden by + Hearst, is being used to tire him out. Hearst and his papers keep in pretty close touch with the laborite votes, and have good facilities for persuad- ing them that Dr. Wilson is their secret enemy and Mr. Clark their true friend. So, between all the con- servatives fighting Dr. Wilson as a dangerous political character, and Hearst disguised as a radical, fighting him as a secret enemy of labor, the Doctor had uphill work of it in Illi- nois. It seems as if we ought to love Dr. Wilson for the enemies he has made. He has a fine store of them. but somehow they are not so efficacious in securing him affection as might be expected. He makes excellent ene- mies, but it is not so apparent that he makes devoted friends. HE more we know about this world the less we worry about the next. IT IN THERE, AND BESIDES WE HAVE NO PROOF A king, who takes them square by square From an Aeroplane HE meadow-lands are checker-boards and I and makes Each, at a glance, dominion to my mind. Kai Vy eee “YOU MEAN TO SAY A BURGLAR STOLE THE MARBLE CLOCK FROM TILP MANTEL, WITH THE DOG IN THE Room ?"* “YES. BUT YOU SEE FIDO 1S ONLY A WATCH DOG, THE LITTLE DEAR.” comicbooks.com