Life, 1915-01-21 · page 7 of 44
Life — January 21, 1915 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This *Life* magazine page satirizes American military preparedness during what appears to be the pre-WWI era. **"Revised List of Our National Defenses"** mockingly catalogs America's actual weak military assets—an undermanned navy, outdated peace treaties, and a few notable individuals like William Jennings Bryan (a pacifist politician). The asterisk notes these items are "*Good in peace times only*," sarcastically suggesting they're useless for actual defense. **"Rushed"** shows a conversation between Crawford and Crapshaw debating whether to increase military spending. Crapshaw dismisses the urgency, claiming they can only supply war materials to "belligerents" (warring nations), implying America lacks domestic preparedness. **The main illustration**, captioned "The Thirst for Knowledge," depicts bears and a man examining an automobile in a forest—likely satirizing American naïveté about military threats, portrayed as primitive curiosity facing modern dangers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
i Revised List of Our National ne measure of overconfidence. Rushed j D. f ‘6 One praiseworthy trust in our fel- | eiense. lowmen. RAWFORD: So you don't think ; Ox navy, undermanned. One infinitesimal standing army. this is the right time to speak i One dozen peace treaties One artillery department, short of about increasing our armaments? One William Jennings Bryan. ammunition. Crarsaw: No; we seem to have One placid American public, One hero of San Juan Hill. all we can do to supply war materials *Good in peace times only. F.D.B. to the belligerents. F THE THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE . .» comichooks.coyy)