Life, 1914-07-30 · page 11 of 40
Life — July 30, 1914 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top cartoon by Otho Cushing satirizes world leaders' advisory roles, depicting caricatured figures (appearing to represent various national leaders) as animals or animal-headed advisors to Jupiter. The accompanying poem suggests these advisors—including references to "the Eagle," "Neptune," and "Vulture"—represent different nations offering counsel on international matters like the Panama Toll question. Below, a section titled "An Exclusive Trio" jokes that Spain, Brazil, and the United States uniquely permit private telephone use by their leaders—criticizing other nations' chief executives for only using phones for official communication. A separate joke exchange mocks a newspaper writer's superficial knowledge, while "The Optimist" cartoon shows a tiger with prey, captioned with dark humor about timing and effort.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Eagle is Jupiter's pet; By Venus and Cupid the Dove Was chosen, to aid and abet Their Mission of Peace and of Love. Minerva relies on the Owl To advise in a tense situation, Such as questions on Panama Toll Or a Mexican Administration; And Neptune, “ the lord of the waves . . . uos ego. . ." (as sung by the Muse Of Virgil) his fowl is the gull Who listens to lectures on booze; While to Juno is sacred the bird That stalks, the supreme illustration Of Wealth, and (I've known it averred) Is worshipped by most of the nation! An Exclusive Trio PAIN, Brazil and the United States, alone among the civilized and most of the uncivilized countries, farm out their telephone business to private individuals. All the other countries are so foolish as to think that the chief use of telephones is to make communication easy, while we three—when shall we meet again?—vibrate to the more intelligent notion that the chief use of telephones is to make dividends. Oh well, it’s a matter of opinion after all and, even if we are making a mistake, we are paying for it ourselves, Enough and to Spare IRST EDITORIAL WRITER: I've been making a study of this labor-union bill in order to write a leader about it. Srconp Eprroriac Writer: How much do you know? “Well, I know cnough to write about it as if I knew something.” — ODD: Were you much excited when your house got on fire? THE OPTIMIST Topp: I should say I was. There was a moment there “WELL, IT MAY BE BIG ENOUGH FOR ME TO CLIMB when I almost forgot to notify the moving-picture people. BY THE TIME I CET THERE” comicbooks.com