Life, 1914-10-15 · page 31 of 48
Life — October 15, 1914 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Editorial:** "The Jar and Strain of the War" reflects American anxiety during World War I (likely 1918, given "August first" reference and mention of "proceedings in France"). The author argues that intellectually engaged Americans cannot truly vacation because they're psychologically consumed by war news and its implications for humanity's future. The piece critiques how even distant Americans feel the psychological weight of the conflict. **Bottom Cartoon:** This Elinor Hoover illustration satirizes pseudo-scientific racism and Social Darwinism. A man pushes a massive cannon labeled "SCIENCE" over figures representing crude prejudices (labeled "CRUELTY," "SERUMS," "DOCS ARE MAD," etc.), crushing them. The "man who believes in Nature's way" stands unbothered on the right—suggesting such prejudiced thinking survives despite science's supposed advancement. The caption "What chance has he got?" is darkly ironic: the cannon of science appears powerless against entrenched bigotry.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Jar and Strain of the War HE more thoughtful people have had no real vacation this year, August is the vacation month, and since August first we have all been to school every day, Sun- days included, learning the military art and the history and geography of Europe. Among other things, we have fought over again the chief battles of our own Civil War for our better understanding of the proceedings in France. There has been no peace, no rest. Where we have not been harrowed by enormous battles, vast destruction and huge mortality, we have been ruminating about the immediate future of mankind. It is as though all bets were declared off and all precedents became invalid on August first, and a new time began on that date, to which the calculations that had come to be our habit no longer applied. The jar of this transition is enormous, even here, where we are shielded by distance from the griefs and material distress that accompany it. Our friends are not dead, nor in spe- cial peril; no consuming disaster hangs over us, and yet most of us Americans are depressed, some consciously, some without knowing why. You can't read war and think war all the time for two months without feeling the strain of it, No; thoughtful people this year got only so much real vacation as they had in June and July. Universities and Endowments ERELY because universities receive copious endow- ments from private individuals it would not be quite proper to say that we have private universities, They are merely private as to certain viewpoints. A university that has a chest full of stock of a certain railway would naturally look somewhat differently upon the policies of that railroad than if it were an entirely extraneous matter, but all self-respecting universities try to be as disinterested GUESS WHAT THE LITTLE BOY IS PRAYING TO BE in their activities as possible, ANIMALS MAVE KO +ELuIsonm HOOVER. ‘THE MAN WHO. BELIEVES IN’ NATURE'S WAY WHAT CHANCE HAS HE COT? comicbooks.com