Life, 1912-12-19 · page 29 of 40
Life — December 19, 1912 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines public health advocacy with corporate advertising. The top section features a letter from Surgeon General C.F. Stokes endorsing typhoid vaccination for Navy personnel—a relatively recent medical intervention (the text references 1912). The satire lies in framing mandatory vaccination as a military discipline issue: individual preference must yield to collective health benefit, establishing "no order, no discipline" without compliance. The central "Prosperity" article celebrates American industrial and agricultural success, attributing it to government-maintained peace and—crucially—the Bell Telephone System's infrastructure. This is transparently corporate messaging disguised as editorial content: the piece argues that national prosperity depends on Americans being "close together" through telephones, culminating in the large AT&T advertisement below. The Old Overholt Rye whiskey ad on the left appears decorative filler typical of the era. The unsigned "Bygones" illustration caption suggests nostalgic imagery, though details are unclear in reproduction. The page essentially sells both public health compliance and corporate telecommunications as patriotic necessities.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
from a military point of view? Let us see. Among the 26,000 persons—practically the whole navy and marine corps—who lave received the full protection afforded by three doses of the préphyla the ten months that have clapsed in 1otz, there has heen but ewe case of typhoid fer 1 that case was extremely mild in type. In tort, there were typhoid fever, with fiftee avy, a Serious eripplin convalescence are consi:lere the deaths, The hr of the situation sp; The t:phoid prophylactic is made growing the typhoid fever for themsel germ—a vegetable or; ture, on perfectly heat, the ew and is ready for injection into the individual 10 be pro- tected. The men must agree to take the prophylactic treatment, otherwise they he enlisted. a military establishment individual preferences and inclinations must vive way to what is best for the greatest mum: ler, otherwise there would be no order, ro discipline. In view of the fo 3 the Navy Department, in my opinion, is perfectly within its rights in’ exacting obedience to orders issued with a view physical fitness—which efliciency, and, inci- dentally, in protecting the individ to promoting means military his personal inclination: piel fever. Yours very truly, C.F. Stoxes, Surgeon General, United States Navy “Same for 100 7 wood, bottled in bond. ,, Rare flavor, exquis- ite bouquet. The aristo- crat of whiskies. A. Overholt & Co. Pittsburgh, Pa. * Rarvat"—by Vincent Aderense, There has been a bumper crop. This is because the tillers of the soil | have been industrious, and the rain and the | sun have favored their plantings. There has been industrial activity. The makers of things in factories have been busy. They have had work to do and pay for doing it. There has been commercial success. The people who buy and sell and fetch and carry have been doing a lot of business and they have been paid for doing it. The country is prosperous because all | the people have been busy. | Good crops and good times can be en- joyed only when the Government main- tains peace and harmony. This task of the Government is made comparatively easy because the American One Policy One System Free with Each Yearly Subscription Prosperity people have been enabled to become so well acquainted with each other. They know and understand one another. They are like one family. The producer and consumer, no matter where they live, are close together. This is largely due to our wonderful facilities for intercommunication. We ex- cel in our railways, our mails and our tele- graphs, and, most ofall, in our telephones. The Bell System has fourteen million miles of wire spread over all parts of the country. Each day there are twenty- five million telephone talks all the way from twenty feet to two thousand miles long. The raiser of crops, the maker of things, and the man of commerce, all are helped to co-operate and work together for peace and prosperity by means of the Universal telephone. AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES _ Universal Service A special reproduction of Mr. Angus MacDonall’s drawing “ Bygones ”* A subscription to Lt tistmas or birthday gift week, fifty-two present } Five Dollars, the regular subscription price.* Life Publishing Company is the best possible copy of LIFE eve y ar, and this picture for 17 West 31st Street New York *Subscription, $5.90 Canadian, $ Foreign, $6.04 “* Bygones” comicbooks.com