Life, 1912-11-28 · page 28 of 44
Life — November 28, 1912 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three reader letters to Life's editor—a format common in magazines of this era. Rather than a political cartoon, it's a "Letters to the Editor" section showcasing reader response to Life's editorial positions. The letters reveal Life's satirical stance on contemporary issues: The first writer sarcastically condemns Life's anti-vaccination stance with dark wishes for the editor's demise. The second defends Life's editorial against "compulsory" patriotism, criticizing forced flag reverence. The third accuses Life of fomenting class hatred by attacking the wealthy without acknowledging that "plutocrats began life as poor boys." Together, these letters show Life wielded considerable influence on Progressive-era debates about public health, nationalism, and wealth inequality—and that readers engaged actively with its positions, whether in agreement or protest.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘LIFE « Some Good Wishes pitor Lire: Dear Sin—I have been reading Lire assiduously for sev- .eral years, the while there has been constantly accumulating a host of rankling and resentful thoughts born of your re- marks on certain subjects upon which you have been sadly Of late these thoughts have become so persis- tent as to interfere with n bright remarks which you cull from your contemporaries; a misinformed enjoyment of the occasional very serious annoyance. However, knowing the futility of argument with one of your feathery temperament and superficial jj express the hope that some day when you reach years of dis- cretion that you will get married and in course of time have a child, and that this child will contract a certain virulent dis- case and die because you refused to allow vaccination: Knowing that your callousness may obviate the effective- ness of this lesson, I also hope that you will swallow your quill toothpick after eating your usual hearty dinner, that it will lodge in some vulnerable spot in your “innards” requiring an immediate operation. I pray that while you are on the operating table the noted surgeon will find a rusty pocket knife, with both blades open, swallowed when an in- fant, and which is now gradually working toward your heart I trust that he will have the moral stamina to refuse to re- move it because you didn't know about it before being anzs- thetized. Then I hope, in the excitement of this new discov- ery, that he will forget about the toothpick and sew you up again, forgetting also his saw and several unsterilized safety- pins (open) which you will carry until the horrible rusty pocket knife reaches your heart, With this load gone I will now continue to enjoy the bal- ance of my term of Lire, which expires next spring unless I can find five large round ones between now and the fatal day. Meanwhile go as easy as possible on the subjects men- tioned and give us more of your contemporaries. Incidentally, I owe it to four skillful surgeons and two no less efficient nurses that T have with me now my wife and a fine lad who gives promise of being as handsome as his dad. inclose his photograph, taken while expressing his sentiments on sea bathing and its effects on his old man. It occurred to ¢ that it would make a stunning and appropriate cover for a joke book It would be a remarkable coincidence if you thought so too Yours very truly, Percy A. McKittrick. Compulsory Love tro Live: Deax Six.—Allow me to commend your editorial of Octo- ber twenty-fourth, “Go Easy with the Flag.” Anything compulsory is obnoxious, and contrary to the spirit of freedom our country boasts of. I was born in the United States, have been here all my life, and love the flag, but wouldn't love it if I knew I had to and dared not. I agree with you that their throats. “people don’t want it stuffed down That might go in Russia, but not here. Yours truly, Wa. Crump. Brooxsvitte, Fra. October 1912, The Only Cause of Poverty 1.1 have been buying your paper weekly on the theory that it was run to satirize the follies and foibles of the day, and to comment brightly and amusingly on current events. For some time I have been disgusted with its evident purpose to stir up hatred, distrust and discontent among those who are not rich toward those who arc, without suggesting any rational means of betterment, and without referring to the fact that every one of the so-called plutocrats began life as poor boys, and that the same opportunity is open to all, or to the further fact that the greater part of poverty is duc to drink and laziness. This fecling was increased when you be- gan your fanatical and utterly silly crusade against vivisee- tion, without which the wonderful benefits to mankind secured by the Rockefeller Institute and Dr. Carrel would have been impossible. You have reached the limit now that you have become an unscrupulous, abusive, lying Democratic partisan sheet, and it will never lie on my table again. Yours truly, D. Cansocitay Wasuttxctox, D.C. October 30, 1912. comicbooks.com