Life — October 8, 1914 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Dr. Goldwater and the Dogs" This satirical article criticizes Health Commissioner Sigismund Schulz's proposal to require muzzling all dogs in New York City. The piece defends dogs' value to human happiness and attacks the comparison to other cities (Berlin, Vienna, Munich) as inappropriate for New York. The article argues that city dogs provide sentimental companionship rather than economic value, making them worth protecting. It mocks Schulz's mechanistic, Prussian worldview ("every human cog in its place") as contrary to American values. The cartoons illustrate dogs' innocent social role—children playing together—suggesting that muzzling requirements are unnecessarily harsh. The satirist contends dogs are "better off in the country" but shouldn't be banned from cities where they bring joy to those "not enough loved."