Life, 1912-07-04 · page 16 of 44
Life — July 4, 1912 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon:** "When Jenny Comes Marching Home" depicts a parade of figures climbing ladders and walls—a visual metaphor for social mobility or aspiration. The exact reference is unclear without additional context. **"Exiles" Article:** Satirizes mandatory vaccination laws by describing the Gustafsons' forced exile from their home in Astoria, Long Island. State authorities threatened to jail the father for refusing to vaccinate his son. Life's satire targets the state's coercive power: forcing healthy citizens to submit to medical procedures against their conscience or face imprisonment. The piece questions whether such authoritarian methods represent "advanced" civilization. **"Parcels Post":** Mocks Postmaster Hitchcock's repeated objections to expanding parcel delivery service to remote countries. Life suggests he'd be better suited working in distant colonies (Madagascar, Patagonia) than obstructing domestic progress. **Final Aphorism:** Cynically notes people lack moral courage regarding money. The page reflects 1920s American tensions over individual liberty versus state authority and bureaucratic obstruction of public services.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“y WE'RE TO-MORROW 1S KENT DAY.” KNOW IT, JULIA, BUT ONE DOESN'T CHANCE LIKE THAT TWICE IN A LIFETIME, ALWAYS HAVING RENT DAY.” “THEY Gre BEAUTIFUL, FRANK, BUT REMEMBER Crt A WHILE Exiles W congratulate Mr. id Mrs. William Gustafsons, who have recently been obliged to move away from Astoria, L. I. (where they owned their own home), because of the methods used by the State authorities in attempting forcibly to vaccinate their son. There is nothing to indicate that these people are not healthy citizens and that their son is not a perfectly normal child; but the authorities felt that it was necessary to perform the operation of nation upon him. When the father objected he was haled into court and threatened with a sentence on Blackwell's Island. To be obliged to go to jail hecause you are a perfectly healthy person, and your son is a perfectly healthy per- son, and you have no other wish but to maintain him in perfect’ health—well, isn’t this a pleasing commentary on our advanced methods of doing things? Parcels Post T 1E latest news about the parcels post is that Portugal, French Guinea and Martinique will probably all have parcels post agreements with this country some time in the near future; probably also we shall make arrangements with Pa onia, Iceland, Liberia and Kamchatka. Every time somebody wishes to have a parcels post in this country Postmaster Hitchcock will reply that there ons why we ought not to have it here, but there is ar. are r a great demand for it in Mada We suspect—but we only offer this timidly as a halting prophecy—that there is going to be a great demand for Mr. Hitchcock in Madagascar, Patagonia and other remote places on the globe, We suspect that he can do more good in those places than he is doing here. LL men have a sense of justice in their hearts, but it rarely extends to the pocketbook. comicbooktel eee