Life, 1914-02-12 · page 16 of 44
Life — February 12, 1914 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early 20th-century ideas about morality and freedom, primarily targeting philosopher Havelock Ellis's theory that nudity promotes moral responsibility. The left cartoon mocks this notion by suggesting that walking naked down Fifth Avenue—even in freezing Alpine conditions—would be impractical and ridiculous, while sarcastically noting American women already spend enough on clothes without pursuing "moral nakedness." The "Elopement at Bunniecliffe" cartoon depicts a couple eloping on a motorcycle, with the groom declaring nothing can separate them now that the parsonage is visible—a romantic comedy playing on elopement tropes. The "Perspicacity" section critiques the Morgan banking firm and President Wilson's anti-trust efforts, suggesting the money trust only takes government action seriously when it involves private pressure, not public pronouncements. The Cupid cartoon appears incomplete but uses the god of love as a comedic character.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ME AN’ HER" The Latest Thing in Morality R. HAVELOCK ELLIS, writing in the International Magazine, has a new idea that ought to spread far and wide. Referring to the need of a more acute sense of responsibility, he says that “It is only by the sanc- tion of nakedness it can be achieved. Nakedness,” declares Mr. Ellis, “ be- comes a moralizing force of the most strenuous urgency, because, apparently, the mere liability to be naked, the mere freedom to be naked, at once intro- duces a new motive into life.” There must be something in this. Running about naked would no doubt be a pleasant sensation for some of us, who have tried pretty much every- thing else, assuming, of course, that the day was sufficiently warm for the purpose. In Switzerland, however, they have a new cure for tuberculosis that is said to work very well, in which they send people out into the freezing air with a little less on them each time, until finally they become accustomed to noth- ing at all. Walking blithely over an Alpine range on some bright winter’s day, the thermometer, say, at two be- AN ELOPEMENT AT BUNNIECLIFFE He: NOW, DARLING, WITH THE PARSONAGE IN SIGHT, NO POWER ON EARTH CAN SEPARATE US low, clad only in a pink flush, must, indeed, be an uplifting pastime. On this basis, may there not be a new morality in Mr. Ellis’s idea? If we can throw off all reserve, and, ar- rayed only in a pleasant smile, walk down Fifth Avenue, would not the laugh be given all along to every tailor and department store? The trouble with our American women now is that they wear not perhaps enough to hurt, but enough to make it expensive. There seems to be no middle ground, however, to the higher morality. The new freedom in reality should consist of not a stitch, no matter what the thermometer, As a Greek once said when he was asked how he stood it to go about without clothes: “You don't cover your face, do you? Well, I am all face.” T. Lo. Perspicacity * THE London Daily News seems to be a pretty good long-distance ob- server. It says: : “ One may regard the action of the Morgan firm as practically an admis- sion of the existence of a ‘moncy trust ', and as some evidence that they take seriously President Wilson's de- termination to break its power.” To be sure they take it seriously, because it is serious. The money trust never worried about fulminations from Washington which came out the front door for public consumption. It is only when the private back-door reas- surances cease that they begin to worry and set about putting their house in order, Cupid: GLAD TO MEET YOU. PERILAPS 1 CAN THROW SOMETHING IN YOUR WAY comicbooks.com