Life, 1915-07-29 · page 22 of 40
Life — July 29, 1915 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page satirizes post-WWI American society through three cartoons and accompanying text. **Top left cartoon**: A soldier in a trench expresses relief at not being with a "gentile," satirizing antisemitic attitudes and ethnic tensions within the military during World War I. **Top right cartoon**: Depicts urban chaos with crowds shouting "Mad dog!", "Shoot him!", and "Police!"—likely mocking sensationalist newspaper reporting and public hysteria, possibly referencing immigrant communities or labor unrest. **"Latest From The Front"**: Parodies vapid war reporting through a fictional Mr. Backwater, a stockbroker whose observations abroad are absurdly meaningless ("the war is still going on"). This mocks American businessmen and press coverage that reduced complex European conflict to superficial anecdotes. **Bottom section ("Scale")**: Satirizes New York hotels charging customers for varying degrees of waiter condescension—a sharp critique of class hierarchies and commercialization of social deference in the service industry.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“THANK HEAVEN I'M NOT OUT HERE WITH A GENTILE” Latest From The Front (As Daily Reported by the American Press.) M* BILLINGSGATE BACKWATER, one of our most prominent bucket-shop men, whose business judg- ment and right-mindedness have given him an international reputation, returned from Europe yesterday on the steamer Pieplate. During his absence abroad Mr. Backwater visited England, Russia, France, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Italy and all points on the main line going east. He says that conditions everywhere were what he saw and that the war is still going on. Mr. Backwater stayed in Berlin at the house of a prominent plumber, who told him that they had plenty of bread for another weck. Mr, Backwater says that submarine warfare will undoubtedly cease when the war is over. He says he saw no atrocities until he landed at the New York Custom House. THE FIRST TALKING MACHINE “PAR FROM THE MADDING CRowD” Scale A OUNCEMENT having been made that the leading New York hotels would hereafter charge for the varying degrees of condescension shown by the head waiter toward the guests, at first the people began to murmur. It was, however, soon demonstrated beyond peradven- ture that this was in the line of real commercial progress and only what would most logically come from previous practice. ‘And thereafter every one was glad to submit. The following scale went into effect, the charge to be added to the restaurant bill: From Heap Water. Brief nod ... Personally conducted tour to your place Turning you over to assistant head waiter... Conversation, per word Cordial handshake Plain smile ..... Beaming smile ............4- comicbooks.com