Life, 1913-11-20 · page 21 of 44
Life — November 20, 1913 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Cartoon:** Depicts a soldier home on leave surrounded by civilians (including children and a dog), with the caption "KILLIN' FOLKS?—OH! WELL, YOU GET USED TO THE IDEA." **Context:** This appears to reference World War I military service. The satire shows a returning soldier casually discussing combat killing with civilians, suggesting the disturbing normalization of warfare and violence. The rural/domestic setting contrasts sharply with the soldier's matter-of-fact attitude about lethal combat. **The Text Below:** Discusses financial anxiety—income tax complications, currency bill debates, and investment uncertainty. Citizens are reportedly favoring egg purchases as "investments" because they provide tangible returns at breakfast, avoiding complicated financial instruments entangled in taxation and regulation. **The Satire's Point:** Life juxtaposes grim war realities with domestic financial anxieties, suggesting Americans remain preoccupied with petty economic concerns even as young men casually accept killing as routine. This critiques both wartime callousness and peacetime materialism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ittle, work they k di- cems uals, very have day ohns wel- wed year king mes, | to 0 to the is it far his suce nost Ligh ble elps end their influence, and that is worth while; it helps to make usefulness re- spected and popular, and that, too, is very suitable. ie looks something like a toss-up whether salaries, big or small, will continue to be paid after this year. The difficulties of finding out how much is due on the income tax are so great, and the disputes about the processes of payment so fierce, that lazy people will be disposed to drop their incomes inio Uncle Sam's hat and live on their prin- cipal while they still have it. Business is pretty good, but stocks are low and THE FIRST FURLOUGH “ KILLIN’ FOLKS?—OH! WELL, YOU GET USED TO THE IDEA.” thrift is somewhat discouraged. The artificers of the currency-bill are at loggerheads, and until they can agree and a bill be passed, and we can try it out and see how much it hurts, the ac- cumulation of dollars seems too specu- lative to invite the cautious. They will prefer to turn their money into some- thing for immediate use. Hereabouts fresh eggs at 60 cents a dozen are favored as an investment, because one can realize on them at breakfast. ambitious buyers who covet se- think sadly of bonds, because coupons are so entangled in the in- come tax, and of everything because if the new currency bill and the Mexican complication don’t bear the market, the new barbs which are making for the improvement of the Sherman law are sure to do it. So eggs are the favorite investment, and certainly it is kind of our benefactors to have pushed them up to a point where they will hold so much money. LY HE published letter of Se James Hamilton Lewis of Ilinois (late of The Coast), to Mr. Pindell of Peoria, about the Russian ambassados- ship, may not have been exactly au- thentic as printed, but one gets the im- pression that the general sense of it was faithfully conveyed. Mr. Pindell, ator whose acquaintance we now make for the first time, had been kind to Mr. Bryan. Was there ever a boy let loose in a toy shop who had as much fun as Mr. Bryan is having with the diplo- matic service of these United States!