Life, 1915-04-29 · page 27 of 44
Life — April 29, 1915 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top illustration, titled "Rival Routes," depicts a biplane flying over mountainous coastal terrain while sailors in a rowboat navigate below—a visual metaphor comparing competing transportation methods. The accompanying "Our Navy Column" is satirical commentary on Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels's policies. It mocks: 1. **Battleship modernization**: The Navy rejected upgrading engines because faster ships would make sailors "reckless"—absurd logic that satirizes conservative military thinking. 2. **Daniels's moral agenda**: References to his "manual" of religious and ethical views being distributed to officers, and pressure for enlisted men to join Sunday-school—mocking his attempts to impose personal morality on the Navy. The satire suggests Daniels prioritized moral instruction and caution over military readiness and speed, a serious concern during the pre-WWI naval arms race with England and Germany. The "Faces" column that follows is unrelated—merely whimsical descriptive prose about facial features.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
RIVAL ROUTES Our Navy Column HERE are several new designs in knitting. Those who wish to take lessons should write direct to the Navy Department in Washington. The suggestion that the old engines be ripped out of all our battleships and new ones installed, which will bring these battleships up to or beyond the same speed as those of England and Germany, has not been favorably received, as it is thought that if our ships were speedy our men might get reckless. “Knowing that they can easily be overtaken will make everybody cautious” is the motto. A manual of Mr. Daniels’s moral and religious and ethical and social and personal views, it is understood, will shortly be issued. It will be divided into sections, articles and paragraphs, like a text-book, so the officers and men may follow it constantly without loss of time. Those enlisted men who have not yet joined the Sunday- school Union should send in their names. Faces ACES come on people, waters and notes that are al- ways coming due at the most inconvenient time. When faces belong to people they vary in size and shape and do not appear to be constructed according to any ma- tured plan, They also come in various colors, red, blue and white. Some faces belonging to certain young ladies between seventeen and twenty-five are highly ornamental and are calculated to inspire one’s respect for the careful workmanship of the creator. It is difficult, under some circumstances, and when there are no others present, to get too close to such faces as these. Faces are used by their owners for various purposes; for example, to conceal lack of brains, Every face has one nose, two eyes, two lips, a forehead, eyebrows and cheeks. Also chin, which is used to make music. The nose comes in various colors, according to the taste of the owner, ranging from an alabaster white to a deep purple. comicbooks.com