Life, 1914-09-24 · page 15 of 45
Life — September 24, 1914 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Main Cartoon:** Shows a wealthy woman in an automobile asking her chauffeur if a crowd of poor people waiting outside constitute a "bread-line" (unemployment queue). She dismisses poverty as mere "sociology" too "adorable" to take seriously—satirizing upper-class indifference to economic hardship. **The Text Sections** address two issues: 1. **"Brutalities"**: Discusses alleged German mistreatment of civilians during WWI (referencing the Huntingtons case), noting some reports were unverified but acknowledging documented incidents in J.J. Chapman's letter to the *London Times*. 2. **"Cause and Effect"**: Mocks circular reasoning about poverty and alcoholism—poor people drink *because* they're poor, which keeps them poor, which makes them drink, etc., in endless logical loops. **The Anti-Noise Law reference** jokes that wealthy dinner-party hostesses should read NYC's new noise ordinance. **Overall point**: The satire ridicules wealthy indifference to poverty and flawed social arguments used to justify inequality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Lady: on! 1s THAT THE BREAD-LINE? SOCIOLOGY 1S JUST TOO Bnatalities HERE is assertion and denial of German brutalities The story of the ill-treatment of the Huntingtons was not sustained by later advices, What appears to be true is that on August 4th, when the news of England's declaration came, the Germans pretty generally went off the handle, and disorders and harsh treatment ensued whereof there is a record in J. J. Chapman's letter to the London Times. After that there seems to have been a return to deportment. There are many stories of kindness shown to Americans in Germany, and some of kindnesses done to non-com- batants by German soldiers. In a great war there will be all kinds of participants and all kinds of behavior, and also innumerable tales that are not true. EW YORK has passed an anti-noise law. We hope it will be carefully read by American ladies who attend dinner-parties, COULDN'T WE SLOW UP A LITTLE? ADORABLE FOR ANYTHING Cause and Effect ‘O sum up the arguments thus far, intemperance keeps the poor poor and poverty keeps the intemperate in- temperate. From that it is no trouble to deduce that the poor are intemperate because they are poor because they are intemperate because they are poor because they are intemperate, and so to the nth power. 1 THINK THE DOWN-AND-OUT NUMBER