Life, 1914-08-20 · page 9 of 40
Life — August 20, 1914 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon**: "This Age of Big Things" satirizes the Hamburger and Sauerkraut Liner Mastadonia making its pier. The exaggerated scale—massive ship dwarfing the dock—mocks the era's obsession with ever-larger industrial achievements and commercial vessels. **Bottom Cartoon & Article**: "Aiming High" discusses the American Medical Association's proposal for a national health department. The sketch shows a doctor examining patients. The caption joke ("What's the row, Sonny?" / "Why, th' examinin' doctors have just been here...") satirizes the contradiction: doctors demand medical credentials to control health policy, yet simultaneously want to exclude "perfect specimen" men from scrutiny. The article critiques this gatekeeping—physicians wanting monopolistic control over health matters while avoiding outside oversight.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
<I ip [UT bet N Al is pais THIS AGE OF BIG THINGS THE HAMBURGER AND SAUERKRAUT LINER MASTADONIA MAKING HER PIER/ | Aiming High T a recent meeting of the American Medical Associa- tion at Atlantic City fifteen reasons were advanced for the establishment of a national department of health. Among these perhaps the best one—from the medical standpoint—is that which states: To influence state and city authorities to enact reform legislation in relation to health matters. The kind and quality of legislation to be exacted would, of course, be determined by the doctors themselves. They would quite naturally not be willing to admit that anybody else is competent. If they wished to introduce a new serum they would say to the legislators: “Put this through. Make it compulsory. You cannot disprove that it is a bad thing, because you have not secured medical diplomas—which we alone can grant.” This is a beautiful system. As a system it is impreg- nable. To use the vulgar parlance of politicians, there is no “come back” to it. It aims for nothing less than the direct control of the health, the liberty and the person of every American, whether male or female, . “WHAT'S THE ROW, SONNY?” “WHY, TH’ EXAMININ’ DOCTORS HAVE JUST Bi THAT'S A ‘PHYSICAL DEFICIENT’ KNOCKIN’ TH’ STUFF! UV A ‘PERFECT SPBC’MEN'!”