Life, 1915-07-29 · page 7 of 40
Life — July 29, 1915 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes American neutrality during World War I. The central female figure labeled "NEUTRAL" (representing the United States) sits between two military officers in formal uniforms—likely representing Allied and Central Powers—who gesture toward her while she maintains a composed, detached posture. The accompanying article "On Being Neutral" mocks the impossibility of true neutrality, arguing that remaining uninvolved requires studious avoidance of conclusions. The second article critiques Prussia's rapid "civilization" efforts, suggesting Germany cannot achieve in years what took other nations centuries. The satire targets America's claimed neutrality stance as impractical and naive—the cartoon visually demonstrates how difficult it is to remain truly neutral when surrounded by competing warring powers demanding alignment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
| \ ao gy EET “Sp On Being Neutral N UTRALITY is the divine art of not being able to make up one’s mind, It afflicts but few, for most. people make up their minds with great facility, often without knowing anything valid about the subject in hand. That is the line of least resistance. But to be neutral is to go to the other extreme; that is, to study a matter thoroughly and to get all the evidence available and then to draw no conclusions, A partisan may look before he leaps, but a neutral looks and then doesn’t leap. To be neutral is one of the most difficult feats imagin- able, unless one is under the influence of a mental, moral or intellectual opiate. Very often, however, when neu- trality is not really felt, it is affected for the sake of politeness or expediency or diplomacy or commercial ad- vantage or other laudable reason. £.0.J. Crowding Civilization in Prussia O one knows the Prussians better than Poultney Bige- low. He says that Prussia produces no leaders in any department of civilization; that all her leaders are in the destructive art of war. The truth, not appreciated till last year, seems to be that the Prussians are centuries behind the English in civilization, Their spirit is not yet civilized. This war is an immense effort to do for them in a year or two what it took five or six centuries to do for England and France. Of course, so rapid a process is very hard on the material, and great quantities of raw Prussians are being destroyed in this effort to refine them. It is too bad, but what can be done about it so long as the only choice is whether the Prussians are to be civilized or civilization Prussianized? comicbooks.com