Life, 1915-04-15 · page 9 of 44
Life — April 15, 1915 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes German military overconfidence during World War I. The main article mocks Berlin's belief that Germany will win, citing a German soldier's letter claiming "all the powers of the world united cannot beat our army." The satire argues this confidence is unfounded—the Allies actually have superior naval and military resources. The large illustration shows a woman in a long coat next to a "Men Wanted for the Army" recruiting poster, captioned "A Hint to the National Legion." This appears to encourage American women to support military recruitment. The smaller cartoon depicts a school superintendent as a rabbit—likely critiquing educational leadership during wartime, though the specific reference is unclear from context alone.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Epidemic of German Confidence RESIDENT WILSON once said he had a one-track mind. The German mind is of that sort, and everything on itS single track is still headed for Paris. The positive coti- fidence reported from Berlin, that the Germans are unbeatable, is quite won- derful. It seems to take absolute possession of Americans who stay in Berlin, Ambassador Gerard is said to be infected with Major Lang- horne, lately our military attachment there, was rumored to have been called home because his case of German confidence was so bad it bothered the . \ . ~ . British, “AM the powers of the CORT | NM 2 i) Wa wbted world united cannot beat our arm vibe we UK + . writes a German soldier from : r £ \ Awe trenches in Flanders. That is the spiri aie i Yi . ior bhe sAY my of which one gets sight. ‘ : s One hears by word of mouth that 3 $ y . : there are tall heads in Berlin that perceive that Germany is overmatched and will be beaten, but scarcely a whisper of that gets into print. Noth- ing but a provision of dead Germans so huge as to stifle argument. scems likely to end the war, The dead Ger- man is as yet the only German soldier who is not sure he will win, The trouble with the German argu- ment of confidence is that the Allies have it just as strong, and even more cheerfully, and that there are more Allies, with more ships and guns, than Germans. A HINT TO THE NATIONAL LEGION CYY/HAT is the charge against this JF you are afraid of gossip, move to man?” the city. There interests are so scattered and diverse that those who School Superintendent: were 18 know interesting morsels of scandal TROUBLE, THE LADY PRINCIPAL BEGS LEAVE about a given person seldom meet with OF ASENCE TO RECOME TIE MOTHER oF “Discharged! He's been punished other people who are interested in the A DOZEN CHILDREN enough.” scandal concerning that person. “Dressing up in woman's clothes, your honor.” comicbooks.com