Life, 1914-12-31 · page 30 of 41
Life — December 31, 1914 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains an essay titled "Thoughts on Politics" critiquing autocratic leadership, illustrated by three cartoons. **The Main Article** discusses Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany as a cautionary example of autocratic failure. The author argues that while Wilhelm wasn't inherently bad, his system lacked the democratic checks (rival parties, elections, press criticism) that could have corrected his errors as circumstances changed. The piece advocates for democracy as self-correcting through competing viewpoints. **The Three Cartoons:** 1. **Top left**: A domestic scene under mistletoe—a young man dismisses his girlfriend's kiss, saying "she dared me to," illustrating youthful irresponsibility. 2. **Bottom left**: An earlier kiss scene with similar implications. 3. **Right cartoon (A.D. 1915)**: A New Year's resolution joke—a woman claims she's swearing off tobacco, cocktails, and betting, while her male companion appears skeptical of her sincerity. The cartoons humorously underscore the essay's theme: humans struggle with self-correction and sustained commitment to improvement, whether in leadership or personal behavior.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LOK WA COUNSEL of perfection” means impracticable advice. Perfection in human affairs is not to be expected. No merely human leader is able to be right long at a time. However true his heart may be to righteousness, sooner or later he will miss out in judgment and applica- tion. What saves us from defects of leader- ship is the antagonisms of rival errors. The faults and defects of one squad of leaders and reformers must offset the faults and defects of another. Hopeful observers see in democracy a means by which promising leaders may be developed and made useful, and in due time be shelved when (or be- fore) their adjustment to public needs begins to fail. Critics of the mon- archical method see in the present plight of Germany an illustration of S LhRSE Thoughts on Politics the dangers of autocracy. It was not that William was bad, but that he kept on giving Germany more of the same when her circumstances and conditions had changed and she needed something quite different. She didn’t know it; neither did he; but under a democratic system, with candidates, platforms, demagogues, obstreperous newspapers and real elections, they might both have found it out. Europe is no political icebox in which governmental policies will keep indefinitely. They have to be used up while they are still good. The Hohenzollern autocratic idea was doubtless good for a time, though Ger- many owes more to Stein than to any Hohenzollern. The trouble was it got so much control that when it began to develop errors, the rival errors which should have butted it out of danger were not able to get headway enough to do their work. it were a bad idea. N politics a good idea put forward at the wrong time is an error, and may be just as bad an error as though William's great error has been to be the leader of the German people. His grandfather never made that mistake. A President may still be a leader of the people, but it is a good while since leader- ship has been a proper job in peace time for an Emperor or a King. A good leader is a man of energy in whose mind are active the particular ideas that society needs at that par- ticular time. The man is much more likely to persist in his ideas than so- ciety is to continue to need them. New people kecp being born with new ideas in their young heads. Condi- tions of life, or government, or busi- ness, change fast—very fast, indeed, in these times—and most leaders pres- ently get out of adjustment to them. (Continued on page 1218.) me RMT “ou! 1 SAW YOU KISS SUSIE JENKS UNDER THE MISTLETOE” She: ves. “WELL, I DON'T CARE. SHE DARED ME TO” I gee? IY fee AND BETTING. A. D. 1915 He: Ake YOU MAKING ANY GOOD RESOLUTIONS? I'M SWEARING OFF TOBACCO, COCKTAILS