Life, 1912-07-04 · page 14 of 44
Life — July 4, 1912 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"Forcible Feeding" Article:** This article critiques the force-feeding of imprisoned British suffragettes who refused to eat. The accompanying illustration shows a dark silhouette of a figure being forcibly fed while surrounded by cherubs and smaller figures. The text argues authorities justified this as keeping prisoners alive, but notes the practice was cruel and counterproductive—it gave martyrdom appeal to the suffragettes' cause. The article questions whether such harsh treatment should apply to any prisoners, particularly noting it seems especially wrong applied to underfed children generally. **"It's a Poor Rule" Section:** This discusses the appointment of consulting medical editors at major newspapers. It humorously critiques the idea, asking why hospitals shouldn't similarly have journalists to accurately report their operations to the public. The right illustration, "Something a Dog Would Never Do to a Lov[ed one]," appears unrelated social commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘LIFE: Forcible Feeding T seems that, according to the London papers, a number of English suffragettes who were committed to prison were subjected to the forcible feeding process, a method of punishment which seems to be cruel and revolting to the last degree. The matter has aroused great indignation in London, and the Times has been full of adverse ex- pressions about it. The authorities take the ground that the reports were very much exaggerated. The reason for the forcible feeding is, of course, the refusal of the prisoners to eat. They wish, apparently, to acquire an abnormal reputation for martyrdom that would come from starvation. The authorities feel that it is their business to keep the prisoners alive, and presumably they feed them forcibly in just the same way that they take away from them any weapons with which they might commit suicide. It seems a pity that the forcible feeding process, how- ever, should not be applied to the poor people generally upon the part of governments; especially it might have a great effect upon thousands of school children who at present are so poorly nourished that they are unable to perform the functions of a human being. The forcible feeding idea may be all right, but it is not applied at the right point. EVEN IN THOSE DAYS Eve: EXCUSE ME, BUT 1 DRAW THE LID EITHER THE TURKEY TROT OR THE GRI It's a Poor Rule RECENT innovation in journalism is the appointment of consulting medical editors on the staffs of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Herald. The idea of having a doctor attached to the staff of papers in order that medical news may be correctly pub- lished is, no doubt, highly desirable. The Medical Review calls attention to the fact, as an instance of journalistic errata, that some time ago a French surgeon who came over to this country for the purpose of performing an opera- tion which had long been in use in the New York hospitals was held up in the papers as a new genius, and exploited as if the particular operation he performed was something entirely unheard of before. As long as we are going to be correct, however, why not appoint a trained journalist to the staff of every hos- pital and let him tell us correctly what is going on there? The public would like to know how the doctors work s If every hospital staff was likely to have its movements correctly reported in the papers the next morn- ing, there might be fewer operations. z Turn about is fair play SOMETHING A DOG WOULD NEVER DO TO A LOY comicbookeae