Life, 1914-09-17 · page 23 of 48
Life — September 17, 1914 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two separate satirical pieces from the WWI era (circa 1914-1915, based on references to a new Pope and Mexico's ongoing instability). **Top cartoon**: "The Next Meeting of the Peace Conference" mocks Kaiser Wilhelm II's claims of peaceful intent. The visual shows the Kaiser at a peace conference table while holding what appears to be a military document, with the caption sardonically suggesting his "fleet of warships is just a school of peace"—meaning his actions contradict his words about seeking peace. **Main article**: Discusses the election of Pope Benedict XV (Cardinal della Chiesa), arguing that good leadership matters even amid war. It reflects contemporary American anxiety about whether Europe's conflict represents moral failure or conscientious disagreement between worthy peoples. **"Roll Call" section**: Updates readers on Mexico's political situation under Carranza and Villa, expressing cautious optimism that fighting has ceased and constitutional governance can resume without further violence. The overall tone reflects American neutrality-era concerns: skepticism of warring powers' sincerity, hope for institutional stability, and interest in international affairs.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE NEXT MEETING OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE your kind, Kaiser! To him a fleet of warships is just a school of peace. 'HERE is a new Pope, and a new tennis champion, and just at this writing the Giants have “come back”. So there is something besides war going on, though one has to look in the back pages of the newspapers to find out about it. The new Pope, lately Cardinal della Chiesa, now Benedict XV, is very well spoken of as a man fit in piety to suc- ceed his predecessor, and better trained than he was in diplomacy and the affairs of this world. The College of Cardinals is regarded with more or less suspicion as a close corporation ROLL CALL with an eye to the main chance, but when it comes to electing a Pope it seems to show aptitude for its business. If Cardinals and Popes had always been what they have been latterly, history would have been different, and possibly the chapter called “The Reformation” might have been omitted, Popes and Cardinals, however, rep- resent the times they live in, and in spite of the unedifying state of Europe at the present moment, the election of a good Pope does stand for something to the credit of the times, The wars that are on do not necessarily mean that mankind is in a hopeless spiritual state. They are not being fought by bad people, but are vast and terrible conflicts of ideas tenaciously held by fairly conscientious people, all of them of valuable and closely related stocks. Such people ought not to he at war: they ought to be in court; but there is no court powerful enough to settle and save them by its decisions. HE convalescence of Mexico con- tinues. August faded into Sep- tember without any news from there but what was reassuring. There goes on, apparently, constant jockeying for position between Carranza and Villa, with our government as the next friend of each. Getting constitutionalism back on the rails is still a ticklish matter, but the prevalent sentiment seems to be that Mexico has had fighting enough, and that the remaining details of her pacification and of the land problem and of a new government can be worked out without any more popping of guns,