Life, 1915-02-11 · page 21 of 44
Life — February 11, 1915 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Cartoon:** The illustration shows nine soldiers marching in a line, labeled with names including "Tommy," "François," "Leopold," "Alexis," "Micha," "Karl," "Moritz," "Tetsuma," and "Abdul"—representing soldiers from Allied and Central Power nations during World War I, "coming marching home." **The Political Context:** The accompanying editorial defends President Woodrow Wilson's administration against Republican criticism. Republicans were blaming Democrats for economic problems, comparing business to "Belgium" ravaged by "Democratic Huns"—a reference to German militarism in WWI. **The Satire's Point:** The text argues Wilson shouldn't be held responsible for business troubles during wartime chaos. It suggests Republicans are conveniently criticizing without governing responsibility. The marching soldiers imagery reinforces that America is entangled in global conflict beyond any president's control—economic disruption stems from worldwide war, not Democratic policy. **For Modern Readers:** This reflects pre-1917 or early-war American political debate about whether the U.S. should enter WWI and how to assign blame for economic disruption.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“WHEN wanted in the White House when we elected Mr. Wilson was an astrono- mer, not a chemist. We did not elect him for business reasons, nor because of his reputation as a money-maker. We elected him to get certain things done, whether they helped business or hurt it. He has got them done. With his persistent help and under his lead- ership the tariff has been revised downward, the currency system has been reconstructed, and the Sherman Law has been defined by additional legislation. The consequences of all these exploits, even of the Clayton Act, are chargeable to us. If they help business, it’s our luck; if they hurt it, it’s our fault. Either way, it's not Dr. Wilson's lookout. He did not guarantee a cure. It was no part of his contract with us to guarantee good business. HE Republican statesmen are busy just now proclaiming that busi- ness is the American Belgium, ravaged already by the Democratic Huns, and worse to come, with the shipping bill as its forerunner. They are very lucky men, in that they can howl for a year and eight months without fear of being burdened with governmental responsibility. That is lucky for them, hecause it is a bad time to carry the load of government. It is bad because FRANCOIS ALEXIS LEOPOLD MICHA TETSUMA KARL ABDUL the acceleration of everything in all civilized countries in the last forty years has overstrained the apparatus for distribution in the world. Enor- mous increases in wealth, population and productive power have set people to quarreling all over the earth as to their respective shares of what there is, just as heirs quarrel when a rich estate is being divided. In Europe the people are killing one another as fast as possible (depopulation being assisted by earthquakes) and destroy- ing property, and production of all kinds is so much reduced that a gen- eral prevalence of starvation may finally help to the restoration of order. Here, where the squabble has been going on for fifteen years, and is not complicated by predatory neighbors, we seem likely to get off easier, suffer- ing nothing much worse than disturb- ance of industry and more or less discomfort from the use of remedies prescribed for our ailments. For our part, we would quite as soon rub along through this troubled period under Mr. Wilson and. the Southern statesmen who assist him as under any other government that we can think of. Mr. Wilson can sit as tight as most people, and what we most want is some one who can sit tight. Our national treasury is run- ning empty, and that will help to stay the efforts of the Southern and West- ern statesmen to improve our condi- tions. Mr. Burleson, of Texas, has run behind about thirty million dollars Sere MORITZ. { COMES MARCHING HOA in the Post Office, and will not imme- diately be able to confer upon us government telephones. He may even he obliged to restrict the great parcel post blessing that he has bestowed on us, largely at che cost of the railroads, but so considerably also at our own expense. Mr. McAdoo.and Mr. Red- field may not involve us in. serious hostilities, even if their shipping bill goes through. It is a great boon for us to have the energies of all these improving gentlemen restrained a little by the low state of the treasury which is a result of the bashful state of commerce, which results from the diversion of so many workers from industry to destruction, which results directly and obviously from the im- mense overdoing of business, especially by the Germans and their prodigious effort to find out whether a conquered earth would be a good market for their goods. A. sufficient lull in business to starve a crazy world back to its senses may not come altogether amiss. At any rate, in so far as it comes, it comes because the world is crazy, and not because Mr. Wilson is President. Tf it is necessary that a certain propor- tion of the most active business-doers in the world shall be killed off so that the rest of mankind may have a chance to live, we shall have to bow to that necessity, and so will Mr. Wilson, and not even his four excellent rules will rid us of the hardships of that com- pulsion. comichooks.