Life, 1913-07-10 · page 31 of 44
Life — July 10, 1913 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains anti-war political commentary attributed to financier Henry Clews, likely from the World War I era. The article satirizes Clews's claim that bankers will prevent future wars, sarcastically countering that wars are actually *profitable* for bankers—making property destruction and human loss economically advantageous for financial interests. The piece argues that only popular resistance (as allegedly occurred in Germany and France with worker refusals) can stop war. The page includes two separate comic sections: "Overloaded" (a brief joke about vacation indigestion) and "Value of an Imagination" (children's humor about a boy pretending his sister is a non-peanut-eating animal to avoid sharing). The top illustration titled "The Heir" appears to depict poverty or hardship, though its specific reference is unclear from the visible context.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE HEIR Henry Clews and War Kings and rulers are in many cases mere figurchcads and the real power rests with those who control the finances and industrics of a nation—Henry Clews, T! = real power rests with the majority of people, only they don’t happen to know it. They are getting to know it, but the process is slow. They have come to know it to some extent over in Germany and France, where the working men have refused to permit those at the hcad of the State to go to war. Mr. Clews declares that the bankers of the world will no longer allow foolish and unnecessary wars to be waged. Nonsense! Wars have usually been profitable for bankers; that is one reason why they have been wrged. Anything which destroys property and human life and thus gives a chance to create new economic conditions is profitable for the bankers. Human beings are profitable. War will stop when the majority of people wish it to stop. At present quite a number of them are coming to believe not only that it is unnecessary, but that it is uscless. The old idea that,a nation must engage in a war every once in a while to keep up its virility is no longer believed in. If that is the price—better not pay it. Overloaded ILKINS: Your vacation has left you looking fagged. Fitkins: I'm still suffering from undigested scenery, VALUE OF AN IMAGINATION “HAROLD, YOU MUSTN'T EAT ALL THE PEANUTS, EVEN IF YOU ARE PRETENDING TO BE A MONKEY, YOU MUST GIVE SISTER SOME. UT, MOTHER, I'M PRETENDING SHE'S SOME KIND O° ANIMAL WOT DOESN'T EAT PEANUTS.” comicbooks.com