Life, 1915-03-18 · page 29 of 40
Life — March 18, 1915 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces of satire from Life magazine (page 473). **"Bracing Up Palestine"** (main article with illustration): Life sarcastically critiques the proposal to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. The illustration shows a figure writing at a desk, captioned "Gee! I hope the lady'll take her time writin' the answer"—suggesting the matter requires careful deliberation. The article mockingly questions whether Palestine truly needs "development" (implying colonial/modernization rhetoric), then satirizes American anxieties about Jewish emigration: if Jews left New York en masse for Palestine, how would America function? Life sardonically claims to support the idea but demands "fair notice" so New Yorkers can prepare—mocking both the emigration proposal and American self-interest. **"A Compliant Victim"**: A brief joke about a hotel guest accepting an expensive cigar while pretending it costs less—satirizing self-deception or rationalization. The overall tone treats Zionism with skeptical humor while highlighting American indifference masked as concern.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“GEE! 1 HOPE THE LADY'LL TAKE HER TIME WRITIN’ THE ANSWER” 473 Bracing Up Palestine “The Jews, after two thousand years of a life of a wandering na- tion, still cling most fervently to the hope of some day being restored to their ancient patrimony. The most satisfactory solution to the problem, therefore, would be the installation of the Jews as the rulers of Pales- tine, which will then become an independent State and cease to menace English interests in E 'HE author of this suggestion does not say how many Jews would have to be drawn off from their pres- ent abiding places in order to run Palestine on full time. Palestine which has been termed the “cradle of Christianity”, like a great many other cradles, has been left to neglect and decay. There is no boss rule in Pales- tine. Not a surface line there, so far as we know, has been looted. The child-labor factories, such as they are, are almost entirely confined to the rear rooms of homes. Scarcely enough people are run over by autos, operated upon, burned up in factory fires or mangled upon grade crossings in Pales- tine to bring it up to the standard of a modern civilized State. Are the Jews competent to do all this and make Palestine “ come back"? There are about thirteen million of them in the world. Will they all be needed to put Palestine on its feet? If they are needed, then the million of them who are in or around New York will have to go. How can we get along without them? Before we de- cide as to whether it is really a good idea to set Palestine up in business again, we want to know about this. If all the Jews in New York are going to leave us for Palestine, we ought to have a long notice ahead. We don’t want to have a thing like this sprung upon us too suddenly. We are willing to make even as big a sacrifice as this for Palestine and for old time’s sake, but it’s only fair to give us time. A Compliant Victim WAITER: Will you have a fifteen- cent cigar, sir? Guest (at New York hotel): Yes, if it doesn’t cost more than a quarter.