Life, 1914-04-30 · page 18 of 44
Life — April 30, 1914 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This *Life* magazine page from the early 1900s contains satirical commentary mocking various newspapers and social attitudes of the era. **"What Our Contemporaries Are Saying"** features fake newspaper quotes ridiculing editorial hypocrisy: papers that claim patriotism while protecting wealthy interests, dismiss William Jennings Bryan as unsophisticated, mock income taxes on the rich, praise Henry Ford's wage increases while claiming they harm workers, and express indifference to poverty if conducted "legally." **"Advancing Women"** satirizes opposition to women's suffrage and education—the joke being that if women's intelligence grows much larger, their physical strides (skirt lengths) shrink so much they won't walk at all. **"A Maine Plunger"** describes a woman planning a wilderness trip without conventional luggage or clothing, wearing only a "warm pink glow"—likely satirizing both the back-to-nature movement and sensationalist newspaper coverage of such stories. The cartoon illustration depicts two disheveled figures, apparently the subjects of gossip or scandal.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
778 “LIFE: What Our Contemporaries are Saying (From the Morning Babbler.) HE crisis in Mexico is more deep-seated than even the editorial writers have any idea of. The weak spot in Mr. Wilson's foreign policy is that he doesn’t familiarize himself with the news before it is manufactured by the forcign correspondents. We dislike very much to think of being embroiled in a war, but if worst comes to worst, the interests of the proprietor of this newspaper must be protected, even if the country has to sacrifice thousands of lives and billions of money. (From the Morning Pecksniff.) The withdrawal of Mr. John Bassett Moore from the State Department confirms suspicions that we have long held; namely, that we hate Mr. Bryan. The editor of this paper, having once traveled as far west as Binghamton, knows it is absurd to expect anybody coming from Ne- braska to know anything about the gentle art of diplomacy. What this country needs is more Moore and less Bryan. (From the Weekly Weeper-) The report that some of our weakhiest men are going to renounce their citizenship and live abroad to escape the income tax ought to strike a responsive chord in the hearts of all of us who are really and truly patriotic. It is cer- tainly a fitting rebuke to a country which is so ridiculous as to attempt to levy taxes on those who are most able to pay and who are getting the most benefit from them. (From the Daily Bubble.) Inasmuch as Mr, Henry Ford is a good advertiser, we would not for a moment question his motives in increasing the wages of his workmen so exorbitantly, but we may venture the opinion that this is the worst thing he can do for his employees. The writer hereof is himself an em- ployee and knows that any increase in his weekly stipend would have a most disastrous effect upon him. (From the Morning Palaver.) Some of our good conservative friends have misunder- stood a recent editorial in these columns. It isn’t that we have any personal animus against the poor. Far from it. We do not at all object to their starving to death so long as they do it in a legal, upright, dignified and unobtrusive manner. There is a right way and a wrong way for everything, even for starving or being unemployed. Advancing Women HERE can be no doubt that women are making great strides these days; mental, not physical, strides. In- deed, as the mental strides grow longer, the physical strides grow shorter. The larger the hat the smaller the skirt. The only danger is that if woman's brain and in- telligence increase much more, she will not be able to walk at all. A Maine Plunger HE fact has been widely advertised in the papers that in the early spring, when the buds are just beginning to burst and the moving-vans are coming out of cold storage, a young woman of Maine will take her departure for the primeval forest. What seems to interest everybody is that she will not go along with the usual array of Saratoga trunks and hand baggage, including a Persian cat, a Nebuchadnezzar dog, a photographic moving picture outfit and a bottle of cold cream; but, on the contrary, she will go without anything at all. Every stitch of clothing will be left behind by this ambitious young woman, including hairpins, face-powder, red paint and other modern necessaries. Arrayed only in a warm pink glow, she sally forth among the trailing arbutus and the pussy willows, if there be such, and the other flora and fauna waiting to receive her. After idling the time briskly away for a couple of months, dodging bears and other animals who may have secured season tickets, she will come back improved in health and with a coat of tan that would bring the blush of shame to a Brazilian sala- mander. While we are not desirous of discouraging any- body who wishes, even at this late date, to introduce a new health fad, we are bound to say that we do not believe this experiment will be a success. This is not necessarily because of the remoteness, but because it was tried once before, with all the scenery and state business. Eve started off just that way, and what was the unhappy result? It is too painful to dwell on. To repeat it at this time, however, seems rather hopcless. At the, End of Forty-eight Hours uy p*Pa certainly didn’t manage this European trip very well. He said we'd be in Rome two days, but he made a mistake and it's three—and now we've seen every thing and there’s absolutely nothing to do for a whole day. Vandalism: ME AND ME FRIEND WANT TO THANK YOU FOR THE DANDY LITTLE FROLIC, MILLY. GEE, BUT YOU'RE A PEACH! NOT MANY GIRLS COULD HAVE FIRED THOSE CHURCHES AS YOU DID. Militant (coyly): ¥Lattexers! comicbooks.com