Life, 1914-10-29 · page 13 of 44
Life — October 29, 1914 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon, titled "Their Secret," depicts a fashionably dressed woman and a thin man in checkered pants. The accompanying article "The Worst People" by "E.S.M." satirizes fanatics—particularly religious ones. It criticizes their intolerance and their drive to control public institutions and morality. The piece argues that fanatics' ignorance makes them more dangerous than educated specialists, and mocks newspaper editors for printing sensational material that confuses readers rather than informing them. The upper right lists "The Ten Most Useless Things in the World To-day" by Carolyn Wells, including items like umbrella tassels and peace talks—typical period satire of contemporary frivolities. The photograph captioned "When the Last Ape Became the First Man" appears to illustrate evolutionary themes popular in 1920s discourse.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THEIR SECRET The Worst People (With Apologics to E. S. M.) ATICS: The fanatic has ex- isted in all climes and ages, but F' not until the Puritans started did he reach the full flower of his perfec- tion. Now he lives on prohibition and certain forms of religion. A fanatic is, in reality, a dipsomar in absten- tion. He firmly believes in the fanatic control of all public utilities, including the army and navy, Congress and the courts. He would eliminate sex, throt- tle Mother Nature, abolish art, kick and create a new God in his own image. Most people addicted to certain habits are only im- moral up to the limit of indulgence in their particular habit, but the im- morality of fanatics is universal, be- cause it stops at nothin Specialists: A specialist differs from a layman in that his ignorance covers less ground, and is, therefore, more conecetrated. This enables him to conceai it better. E ors: The main object of all editors is to keep from their readers a idea of what is really happening. Th do this in the only effective and perma- nent manner in which it can be done; namely, by printing such a typograph- ical hubbub of material about every subject that everybody gets the impr sion he is learning something about it, when, in reality, he is only becoming more confused. 753 The Ten Most Useless Things in the World To-day (An Improved List.) Umbrella tassels. A war correspondent. A gold pencil. Advice, Wine labels. Beauty aids. Narratives by returned tourists. Buttons on men’s coat sleeves. A woman's no. Peace talk. Carolyn Wells, IRGINIA has gone dry. Curious! 3ut possibly the Old Dominion was over-irrigated. It has been a very hospitable State. WHEN THE Last Are THE FIRST MAN WECAME, comicbooks.com