Life, 1915-08-05 · page 10 of 44
Life — August 5, 1915 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical article discusses whether a Catholic politician, Tumulty, should confess his involvement with President Wilson's correspondence to a priest. The cartoon shows two men in discussion with the caption "Oh, listen to him, Joe! He looks kin' o' respectable, too." The satire targets anti-Catholic prejudice prevalent in early 20th-century America. The article defends Tumulty against suspicions that his Catholic faith means he owes allegiance to Rome rather than the U.S. government. It mocks the notion that Catholics cannot be trusted with political power. A second illustration depicts a barber overwhelmed with customers demanding haircuts, captioning the absurdity with humor. The piece argues that Tumulty's religious beliefs are personal and don't determine his political loyalty—addressing common nativist concerns about Catholic Americans' patriotism.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
230 Tumulty and Rome UR good friend a Protestant mis- » sionary in South America thinks that some sentiments about the Roman Catholic Church lately expressed in Lire are hardly stiff enough. He says in part: About the confessional. It is very closely united to the temporal-power talk always. Well, why?) Take a case. President Wilson says that umulty is his private secretary and it's nobody's business what his re- ligion is. Now, suppose Tumulty is left with all the care of all of President Wilson's correspondence, and is even left to take care of things while Wilson is not in Washington some time—President pro tem, as it were. Suppose Tumulty, is a good Catholic and a Knight of Columbus who wants to make America Catholic, Is he a Jesuit? Well, quien sabe? If he is a good Catholic we will suppose he confesses. Suppose he believes that he must confess everything. Suppose that he and the priest to whom he confesses have sworn allegiance to Rome, and that Rome claims power over every body and thing on earth. For whom will Tumulty and the j priest use what he knows? “i <Grense Rowe It is a pleasure to answer this in- quiry. Tumulty will use what he knows for Wilson, Tumulty, the Demo- cratic party and the people of the Inited States. The priest won't know anything about the President's correspondence. Tumulty won't tell. If Tumulty goes to confession he will merely confess for Tumulty, not for Wilson. If he should form a habit of confessing for Wilson he would lose his job. Our friend inquires if Tumulty is a Jesuit. Presumably not. He seems to be a layman, and Jesuits, as we under- stand it, are usually priests. Anyhow, they are celibates. Tumulty is credited with a wife and lively young family, vhich would embarrass a Jesuit. Of course, they may be faked for political or religious purposes, but that is not likely. As to the suppositions in which our missionary brother writes us to participate, we can only join him in part. It is supposable that Tumulty is a “good Catholic” and “confesses.” but not that he believes he must confess everything he knows or has “sworn allegiance to Rome.” Tumulty, lives in New Jersey, doesn’t he? Why, then, should he swear allegiance to Rome? What does Rome want of him, or he, a Jersey man, of Rome? Our friend should make a distinction between what “Rome” claims and what it gets. Its claims may be as he says. We understand that, having accumulated for a thousand years or more, they cover most of what is in sight, but most of them are only a kind of stage furniture and antiques not intended nowadays for actual use. Do Barber: wuew! A DOZEN CUSTOMERS ALL AT ONCE you suppose, brother, that chaps like Tumulty really want AND EVERY ONE OF THEM CALLING FOR A SHAMPOO! the Pope to govern the earth, including these ever-glorious OH, LISTEN TO HIM, JOE! HE LOOKS KIN O° RESPECTABLE, TOO” comicbooks.com