Life, 1914-07-16 · page 19 of 40
Life — July 16, 1914 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Cartoon: "A Bachelor in the Making"** The illustration depicts a young boy sitting alone while adults argue in a doorway behind him—likely representing parental discord. The satire suggests that witnessing marital conflict produces emotionally damaged "bachelors" (unmarried men), implying such boys grow up avoiding marriage. **Political Content:** The page discusses President Wilson's refusal to support a woman-suffrage amendment, despite a suffragist delegation visiting the White House. The text notes Wilson considers suffrage a state matter, not federal, and actively avoids the issue—though the magazine observes that suffragists gain valuable publicity regardless. **International Commentary:** The final section addresses the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Bosnia, contextualizing Serbian nationalist dissatisfaction with Austrian rule. Life critiques European nations' territorial ambitions ("collector's mania"), arguing that map-making improvements through conquest are expensive and dangerous—a prescient observation given this article appears to predate World War I's outbreak by months.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A BACHELOR IN doubtless welcome Mr. Root to share his illustrious labors. 'HE deputation of suffragists who went to the White House to de- mand the President’s help in getting a woman-suffrage amendment started in Congress made only about so much progress with the President as was expected. He talked with them po- litely, but wouldn’t do anything, and when one of them sought to draw him into argument he excused himself, still politely, from that and from the presence of the deputation. THE MAKING The ening Post speaks of Mr. Wilson's “known and sincere opposi- tion to the entrance of women into active political life”, which means, presumably, that he is opposed to suf- frage. Whether he is or not, he is clearly opposed to mixing up with it while he holds office, and no amount of teasing is likely to shake him in that indisposition. Besides that, Mr. Wilson considers that woman suffrage is a question for the States to settle each for itself, and he is distinctly opposed to a constitutional amendment or any ac- tion by Congress on the subject. The women who go to him know that, and know that they will get nothing from him by going, but they get advertise- ment, and that they think is valuable. Wt lies back of the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in the capital of Bosnia is the extreme dissatisfaction of the Serbs, who are the preponderant people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the ab- sorption of those provinces by Austria. They wish to be attached to Servia. Austria lately gobbled up these prov- inces when the Turkish hold on them was relaxed. She is reported to have given them the best government they ever had, but the Bosnians have not liked it. The Austrian pie was not like what mother made, and they want old-time Servian pie or none. European countries seem over-soli tous to make a good appearance on the map. Germany looks better on the map with Alsace and Lorraine in the German color, Russia with Finland in the Russian color, Austria with Bosnia in the Austrian color. They all have a little of the collector’s mania for rounding out the collection. But these improvements in map-making are very expensive and troublesome, and, in these times of high explosives and precise weapons, very hazardous. EORGE FRED. WILLIAMS, of Massachusetts, seems to aspire to be the Upton Sinclair of Amer- ican diplomacy. A book about the Chicago stockyards was Upton’s step- ping-stone to renown, George Fred. visited the abattoir of European poli- tics and says it’s too bad to be, and has thrown up his job and appealed to the world to do something. It is unusual, but no doubt George Fred.’s horror at the goings-on in Al- bania is well founded, and whatever he does about it, whether he goes on hunger strike or besieges the chancel- lories of Europe with a band of mourning mutes, his proceedings will be sure to be interesting.