Life, 1914-02-19 · page 4 of 40
Life — February 19, 1914 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the eugenics movement, a pseudoscientific theory popular in early 20th-century America claiming some people were genetically "superior." The cartoon's heading "Are You Eugenic?" mocks this ideology. The illustration shows a diverse group of children with the caption "WE ARE—NOT!" The satire suggests that by eugenics standards, most ordinary people—represented by these varied children—would be deemed "unfit," which is absurd. The accompanying text announces an upcoming "Eugenic Number" of Life magazine, sarcastically suggesting it "will probably not appeal to you," implying the eugenics ideology is ridiculous and unappealing to reasonable readers. This represents Life's editorial stance against eugenics pseudoscience during a period when such discredited ideas unfortunately held mainstream appeal.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Only One Week More Week after next cometh the Proper Number. Or precisely, Tuesday noon, March third, Edition 400,000. Do not order ahead from your news. dealer. You wouldn’t anyway—no one does. Saunter up to the periodi- cal depot where Life is stacked any time after Tuesday noon—Blush slightly as you approach and hand the man ten cents. Remember this day is to be set apart by the Amer- ican people as a day of modesty. The great Proper Number will be a marvel of Purity. Yoou Anew how much we hated to build this paragraph, you would i filled with compassion, but the dull, unimaginative business office insists that we insert somewhere on this page the cold uninteresting and unintelligent fact that tt takes good money to become a regular subscriber. Here are the culgar figures: One year $5 (Canadian $5.52, Foreign $6.04). Special Obey-That-Impulse three months’ offer (hedged about with some absurd restriction that it is ‘open only to new subscribers; no subscription rencwed at this rate’) for one dollar (Canadian $1.13, Foreign $1.26). At least we have omitted the usual coupon, so you will have to write us a letter. That's some- thing. (Also, you don't know the address). Are You Eugenic ? If so, the next number of this usually interesting paper will probably not appeal to you. It will be a Eugenic Number. “NOW IS THE TIME TO SUBSCRIBE REGU- LARLY" “BUT, MY DEAR MADAM, I HAVE NO REGU- LAR ADDRESS”