Life, 1913-06-19 · page 48 of 52
Life — June 19, 1913 — page 48: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines advertisements with satirical poetry mocking anti-Japanese hysteria in early 20th-century America. The central poem, "Secret Dangers," ridicules xenophobic panic about Japanese people through escalating absurd scenarios: a schoolboy buying a map is arrested for espionage; a mysterious package is feared as a bomb but proves to be pineapple cheese; a Japanese businessman constructing a building near Washington is suspected of building guns for sabotage, when he's actually just opening a shop selling Satsuma pottery. The satire critiques overblown fears of Japanese infiltration and sabotage that characterized American attitudes during this period of rising Japan-U.S. tensions. The joke lies in the gap between paranoid suspicions and innocent reality—each "dangerous" plot dissolves into mundane commerce. The page also includes a racist humor piece featuring stereotyped dialect and an advertisement for Baltimore Rye whiskey, reflecting the casual prejudices normalized in 1914 American publications.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIF-:E This !4-Pound Box of Nobility Chocolates amie CHoralate> SEND us your name or the name of some one who will appreciate this dainty box of unusual candy and we will send a % pound of Nobility Chocolates without charge. Simply send 10c for each per- son you order for, to pay postage and packing, and tell us where you buy your candy. (Only one box to a person.) $1.00 a pound $1.25 on the Pacific Coast 243 Sil St., North, Boston, Mass, “WELL, IF YOU WON'T SCARE, YOU WoN’T SCARE} AN’ I S'POSE THAT’S ALL THERE 18 10 31," Secret Dangers A juvenile Jap Was buying a map For use in a school, he confest. ‘A man in the shop Sent out for a cop And ordered the fellow’s arrest. He cried, “It’s a plot To pick out a spot For landing an army out West But somebody showed that the dangerous scroll Was merely a map of the Pearyized Pole! ” A yellowish cone From sources unknown To Governor Johnson had come. "Twas heavy and hard, And every guard Was sure they'd discovered a bomb To blow ‘em sky high, Sent secretly by Some devilish son of Yum-Yum! But then the cook saw it and said, “If you please, Who sent us this beautiful pineapple cheese?” A statesman grew pale To find in the mail A hieroglyphical note, He whispered, “ The band That's called the Brown Hand These threatening characters wrote! I'm certain they say They'll kill me to-day By slitting my eloquent throat But he was restored to his usual ease When told ‘twas a check from a laundry Chinese! : A Japanese got A hundred-foot lot . Quite close to the City of Wash, A building he made And persons afraid Said “Goodness!” and “ Gracious!” and “Gosh!” = This devilish one’s Constructing big guns To blow our fair city to squash!” But lo! ‘twas a shop where he got-the mazuma * . By selling much genuine, rare, old Satsuma! —John O'Keefe, in the New York World. Be The picturesque Capital of ne Switzerland will be the site of the Swiss National Exhibition 1914 For further information and booklets or Farther is ri a eddies eos Interlaken (Bernese Obertand) — between the Lakes of Thunan Brienz, The favorite resort of Americans. At the foot of the Jungfrau. Starting-point for all the famous excursions inthe Bernese Oberland. GolfLinks. Mag- nificent Kursaal with splendid orchestra. Lawn Tennis, Rowing, Fishing. Fe ether Safrmmatin wel lets or father teen Sri Pull particulars of a reliable Hotel and oficial character . it Hotels in all parts Tariffs of Switzerland, on the lan Lakes and the! Chamonix Valley will be foun: inthe well-known “Hotel Guide of Switzerland,” 1913 edition, Just out. Fre peel coer or by mail for 10¢. postage. Handsomely ill above Tue dinner was given by a colored man named Ebenezer White, and the guest of the evening was George Wash- ington Green, chief deacon of the little church that White occasionally attended: Grace, of course, was eloquently said, and at its conclusion Mr. White began to carve the chicken. Then Deacon Green became facetious. __ “ Brudah White,” he smilingly remarked, “do dat nex’ do’ neighbor ob you'n keep chick- ens?” “No, sah!” came the prompt response of Mr. White, as he deftly pried loose a well roasted wing, “but he try hard ‘nuff to keep ‘em. —Argonaut. i a] @ HU BALTIMORE RYE AN IDEAL PRODUCT OF THE STILL Sold at all first-class cafes and by jobbers. WM. LANAHAN & SON, Baltimore, Md. gu |! ever) ing ¢ age— “AL “Brings ¢