Life, 1914-01-15 · page 7 of 40
Life — January 15, 1914 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes a Prussian woman's invention: a sleep-inducing powder that, when mixed with exploding shells, would put enemy soldiers to sleep on the battlefield instead of killing them. The satire mocks both the invention's impracticality and its naive humanitarian premise. The text sardonically notes that while a "painless death" would be an advance, such a powder could theoretically end warfare by putting enemy leadership to sleep during peace conferences—allowing soldiers to live and families to remain intact. The illustration titled "PIE" depicts what appears to be a domestic kitchen scene, likely contrasting the homely reality of cooking with the absurdity of the military scheme described above. The satire critiques Prussian militarism while questioning whether such a "radical doctrine" would ever be accepted in wartime.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
War and Sleep WOMAN in Prussia has invented a powder which, when discharged with the exploding shells of a hostile army, puts the enemy to sleep on the battlefield. The War Department of Prussia is making experiments with it. The idea of having a painless death in battle is, of course, a distinct advance upon previous methods of warfare. We cannot necessarily say anything to underrate its desirability, but so long as we have an instrument of this sort, why not use it upon the cabinet officers who get together beforehand and create the war? If by sending a shell into the conference composed of the leading financiers who are making plans to kill off a couple of hundred thousand men we can put them all to sleep long enough, it might be possible for these hundred thousand men to continue to live, raise their families and enjoy themselves generally. This, of course, is a highly radical doctrine and will no doubt be resented in all war circles, comicbooks.com