Life, 1913-10-02 · page 31 of 48
Life — October 2, 1913 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon depicts a Roman amphitheater where two armies face each other, with a caption proposing that instead of warfare, each side select a single champion to fight—a "great saving of human life." The accompanying article, titled "A Last Grand Ruction," sarcastically argues for one final massive military spectacle before disarmament. It mocks militarism by suggesting America has accumulated expensive weapons and aggressive soldiers that shouldn't be "evicted in cold blood"—warriors need excitement. The author proposes a grand final "rumpus" to use up existing military resources before pursuing peace, comparing it to someone taking "a final spree before he takes the pledge." The closing joke about Claudius Caesar's four wives is unrelated humor, possibly suggesting that historical questions have frivolous answers. **Context**: This satirizes early 20th-century disarmament debates and military spending, using absurdist logic to critique both militarism and pacifist arguments about weapons disposal.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THERE MIGHT BE A GREAT SAVING OF HUMAN LIFE IF EACH OF THE CONTENDING ARMIES WERE TO SELECT A CHAMPION A Last Grand Ruction ERHAPS~ we might compromise the ques- tion of militarism by hav- ing a last grand ruction be- ‘ore we decide to be peace- ful, before we disarm and begin to act as if we be- longed in this century, One doesn’t have to look at the appropriation bills to know that we have on hand a large number of very costly and very ingenious devices for destroying things and killing people. We also have on hand a large number of carcfully selected human be- ings of hellicose temperament; men who would just as soon talk back to a loaded pistol or make faces at a bay- onet or tread on the coat-tail of a gatling gun, as to be reviewed by the President and the Mayor on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street. All this being the case, it is a great deal for the disarm- amenters to ask that we evict in cold blood these highly purposeful parts of a past polemical patriotism, or even allow them to fade quietly away like an old photograph that hasn’t been properly fixed. Nothing pertaining to war should be done in cold blood. Warriors thrive on hot blood. We must be excited before we can become proper- ly destructive. We have gathcred all these things together. Now let's get excited and destroy them. Let us have a last grand rumpus that will be as far ahead of Kilkenny ‘one-throwing suffragette is ahead of the lady who used to faint when she was handed a telegram. If we once get rid of what we have on hand, we shall prob- ably be too sensible to lay in a new supply. Let us take a lesson from the man who goes on a final spree before he takes the pledge. EACHER (to boy on front seat): What were the principal military events in the reign of Claudius Caesar? Precocious Boy: He had four wives. comicbooks.com