Life, 1914-08-20 · page 17 of 40
Life — August 20, 1914 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon depicts a woman (likely representing Germany or German authority) holding a small dog, surrounded by a cheering crowd. The title's phrase satirizes blind loyalty—suggesting people must accept whatever comes with their leader, even flaws. The accompanying text debates whether Germany's government under Kaiser Wilhelm II is "up to date." The author argues that while German people are intelligent and capable, their hereditary monarchy may be obsolete. He contrasts this with France, which eliminated its hereditary ruler in 1793 and has functioned well through democratic committees since 1871. This appears to be WWI-era commentary questioning whether Germany's imperial system is suited to modern times—a subtle argument that monarchy itself, not German character, may be the problem. The satire suggests that clinging to outdated leadership structures (the "dog" one must love) is foolish, especially during total war.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LOVE ME, LOVE MY DoG” empire was all right enough—a going concern of great efficiency and one of the leading assets of civilization. The German people are very valuable folks ; nobody doubts it. But is their man- agement up to the date? Is it intelligent with a current and contem- porancous intelligence, or is it driving along unadjusted to its generation? T= seems to be the great question whereof these great war movies now proceeding may have the answer coming in their films. The Germans are intelligent. In spite of the large detachment of intelligence from that country for the benefit of this one that followed 1848, there is plenty left. They are able and they are well trained. They will not like to tip out their board of directors and discharge their hereditary manager, the genial and exemplary William Hohenzollern, He is a good man of the kind and liked and respected. But if he is out of date what can they do? If Germany is a mere Hohenzollern asset the cred- itors may get it, but if Hohenzollerns are a mere liability of Germany they can be discharged. That is where France has the best of it. She fired her hereditary manager along about 1793, and has never had one since for long at a time. and since 1871 committees of her stock- holders have run her business, and done fairly well. 2 WN? NEVER was anything so interesting as this war. They say that Eng- land may run out of news paper. Ap- palling! Any live person hereabouts would rather give up food than newspapers. The Evening Sun de- clares that, regard being lad to the means of transmitting the news, the week ending August 6th was “the most interesting seven days any genera- tion of man has lived through”. Very likely; and the second act in the great drama may make the first act seem tame, We are getting the climax of mate- rialism. One recalls reading lately with amusement mixed with sympathy the suggestion of Mr. R. A. Cram, re viver of the Gothic, that we are at the beginning of a new five-hundred-yeer period in which what we call “ modern civilization”, dating roughly from the fall of Constantinople in 1453, “ will dissolve and disappear as completely as the Roman Empire vanished at the first node after the birth of Christ”. And, then, Mr. Cram suggested, we will get back the best of what was in “the great Christian Middle Ages”. This idea seemed interesting though fantastic, but nothing seems fantastic any more, and it is “a leading banker” whom a newspaper quotes as saying, anent the collapse of the mechanism of exchange: We have been building up this delicate fabric for hundreds of years and we thought that it was in perfect working order and was sufficient to stand up under any contingencies. But it has broken down in a night and the world plunged into a con- dition like that prevailing in the Middle Ages. The world may not be going all the way with Mr. Cram, but it has made quite a lurch in his direction. 'HERE has been universal sympathy for the President in the death of his wife, a lady who had borne herself in the White House in a manner to command everybody's respect. comichooks.coy)