Life, 1915-07-08 · page 26 of 44
Life — July 8, 1915 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes President Wilson's acceptance of William Jennings Bryan's resignation as Secretary of State. The cartoon depicts the incident as an "atrocity" involving the Dardanelles—a reference to the Ottoman Empire's control of this strategic strait during World War I, when American neutrality policy was contested. The article argues Wilson's decision to let Bryan go was actually *not* brave, since Bryan chose to resign over policy disagreements (likely regarding arms shipments and neutrality). The real test of courage, the piece suggests, was previously rejecting advisor George Harvey's influence. The satire mocks The Outlook magazine's praise of Wilson's "bravery," implying Wilson simply followed his own stubborn mind rather than making a difficult choice. The separate joke about the "mechanical" piano-player wife is unrelated wordplay.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
~~ ING ANC S\yw ws i ye 1/ ’ The Bravest Act In accepting Mr. Bryan's resig- nation President Wilson has done the bravest thing in his career. —The Outlook. HAT! Braver than when he let go the upleading hand of George Harvey? Why brave to part with Wm. J.? He had to! William had made up his mind (very sensibly) to get out: There was nothing to do but to let him go. But in the case of Colonel Harvey there was room for a choice. It SHET UP, YE DURN Foot! ANOTHER ATROCITY O' THE OR-I-ENT!” would have been easier for Governor Wilson to have adapted himself to Colonel Harvey than for President Wilson to see a great international situation with the eyes of Mr. Bryan. But he could not do either. His mind seems to control Mr. Wilson. When his mind “sets,” the necessary consequences ensue, whatever they are. His mind is by no means infallible, When he follows it he takes the chances of its errors, but he does not do what his mind condemns to oblige a friend. When he is misled by the DARDANELLES AIN'T A BREED O° CHICKENS—THEY'RE WOMEN counsel of advisers it is in matters which his own mind has not grasped. Once he has taken hold of a subject and mastered it according to his abil- ities, his subsequent mistakes in that field will be his own, and not some one else's, Just It RK: Couldn't I piano-player? Saati: No, I married one. Currk: I mean a mechanical one. “That's the kind I married.” sell you a comicbooks.com