Life, 1915-02-04 · page 13 of 44
Life — February 4, 1915 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page defends democratic governments' foreign policy approach. Senator Root argues that democracies like Canada and the U.S., despite De Tocqueville's criticism of their diplomatic capabilities, have successfully maintained peace for a century through non-secret, transparent methods—contrasting with secretive European diplomacy that led to World War I. The top cartoon, "The Path of the Tactless Man," satirizes the blundering diplomat who creates obstacles through clumsy behavior. The two lower cartoons are unrelated domestic humor: one depicts someone requesting automotive parts; the other shows a woman offering tea. These illustrate typical Life magazine's mix of political commentary and everyday social satire reflecting early 20th-century American life.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE PATH OF THE TACTLESS MAN Democratic Diplomacy Defended SENATOR ROOT, quoting De Tocqueville's criticism of democracies as being incapable of foreign politics, argues that for that reason they are the more favorable to peace than more autocratic governments, “A democracy,” said De Tocqueville, “is unable to regulate the details of an important undertaking, to persevere in a design, and to work out its execution in the presence of serious It cannot combine its measures with secrecy, not await their consequences with patience.” Mr. Root points out that Canada and the United States, “ WANT A NEW STEERING-GEAR—A COLLAR-BONE, A FLOATING RIB AND THREE YARDS OF CUTICLE!” “under essentially democratic government”, have lived together in peace for a hundred years now, notwithstanding many serious causes of controversy. They have often disputed, but neither country had any particular policy, except to do business and make a living by the best means available. Destitute of anything that in Europe would be called a foreign policy, they wrangled out of their disputes and kept the peace. Whereas Europe, with definite gov- ernment policies, persisting from generation to generation, with “perseverance in design” and “measures combined with secrecy”, has got herself into the most tremendous war ever known. Judging it by its results, Mr. Root thinks pretty well of our happy-go-lucky democratic method of dealing with foreign concerns, and is not at all disposed to swap it for the more sophisticated method of Europe. “pO HAVE ANOTHER CUP OF TEA, MRS. JONES” comichooks.