Life, 1915-04-29 · page 17 of 44
Life — April 29, 1915 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This *Life* editorial satirizes anti-militarism activism on American college campuses (Harvard, Columbia, NYU) circa the 1910s-1920s. The piece mocks student pacifist leagues formed to oppose military training camps and ROTC programs, characterizing their activism as immature and hypocritical—"chip-on-the-shoulder" posturing comparable to militarism itself. The author argues pacifists loudly advertise their cause while actual militarists operate quietly. The three cartoons above ("The Grapevine," "The Waltz," "The Grand March") use dance metaphors to ridicule the activists' theatrical, performative protests. The core argument: maintaining a trained military reserve isn't militaristic but *protective*. Pacifist students should either accept modest military preparedness or, ironically, learn to fight themselves—otherwise they'll need militarists to "protect us" during conflict. The satire suggests pacifist idealism is naive and performative rather than principled. This reflects early 20th-century American debates over preparedness preceding WWI entry.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE GRAPEVINE Chip-on-the-Shoulder College Pacifists THe Springfield Republican makes a passing editorial allusion to the “immature, chip-on-the-shoulder mili- tarism which, however harmless, is taking the trouble to assert itself os- tentatiously in not a few colleges and universities of the United States”. There may be some. If the Repub- lican says so, no doubt there is, though we hadn't noticed any. But what of the ostentatious, immature, chip-on-the-shoulder pacifism that the colleges disclose! There is plenty of that. At Harvard, when President Lowell recommended students to take summer courses in military training camps, the Crimson responded with a warning that the “educated college man’s patri- otism must cease to be linked with military service if progress toward universal peace is ever to be made”. At Columbia the Collegiate Anti- militarism League has issued a protest to the effect that such activity as is disclosed by the summer training camp idea and the suggestion of the Amer- ican Legion is “in the highest degree significant of danger to American democracy ”. At New York University the ning Post reports the formation of an anti-militarist society to banish wa THE WALTZ talk from the Heights and work for universal peace. The Collegiate Anti- militarism * League, Karl G. Karsten president, has been formed for agitation against militaristic tendencies and has already experienced an eruption of circulars. What, if anything, the militarists UP AGAINST 1T THE GRAND MARCH are doing, heaven knows. Maybe they have all dispersed; maybe they are drilling in the dark; but certainly they do not advertise, and the Republican must have sent out detectives to catch them in any act of ostentation. The summer training camps to teach to college youths who are little military science are an excellent plan. The desirable thing in the military preparations for our country is the continuous training of a reasonable number of citizens in military duties by methods that will not interfere too much with their ordinary work. We ought to have, not only now, but always, an available reserve of half a million fairly well trained men, and especially we should have trained officers for such a body. That is a very mof@erate provision; not mili- taristic at all, but entirely pro- tective and_ pacific. Anti-militaristic Collegiate Leagues, formed to fight such a provision, ought to get drill- masters and learn the military art, so that if the militarists get us on the run they can protect efficiency. Properly will be just as national defense as willing a way of us with trained, xood for anybody. they Comicbooks.com