Life, 1915-08-19 · page 22 of 48
Life — August 19, 1915 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine (undated but early 20th century) contains three satirical pieces: **"William the —?"** attacks a contemporary political figure called "Warrior King" (likely Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany). The poem mocks him by asking what unflattering epithet history will assign—suggesting "William the Mad" for his ruthless, destructive policies that harm common people. **"Turn About Is Fair Play"** uses dark humor about Depression-era banking. It sardonically proposes that citizens should voluntarily help banks store money, reversing the damage banks inflicted on ordinary people during "the past decade" (the 1920s financial collapse). **"A Drug on the Market"** ridicules a newly invented "thinking machine" by joking it has no commercial demand—implying it's useless because there's no market for thinking in business, government, schools, or stock exchanges. The final jab suggests even authors would need instruction to use it. The page exemplifies *Life*'s satirical tradition: biting social and political commentary through humor and caricature.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘CEP E* William the —? ISTORY writes them a solemn name— “Ivan the Terrible,” “Charles the Bold;” Crowns their glory or brands their shame After the royal life is told. “Bloody Mary”—ah, does she wince? “Peter the Great” has a noble ring! History never misnames a prince— What will she call you, Warrior King? What is the word for a ruthless breed, Scorners of humble and faithful lives, Trampling the earth for an outworn creed Spilling the store of the golden hives? History's hand is poised to write; What is the name for the dream you had? Wait till you kneel on your Judgment Night, Begging in mercy—" William the Mad!” Juliet Wilbor Tompkins. Turn About Is Fair Play LL bankers in this country are soon going to be in a bad way, according to Dr. E. Pratt, chief of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. This gentleman says that we are soon going to do such a tremendous business that the bankers will be at their wits’ end to know how to handle it. So far as filthy lucre is concerned, all the American bankers will be in much the same position as the old woman who lived in a shoe found herself with regard to her children. In this distressing situation what can be done to relieve the bankers? A call should be issued for citizen volun- teers to help them store their money. Almost any citizen ought to be willing to help the banks to get rid of their money now in return for the noble manner in which the banks helped citizens get rid of their money during the past decade. BASEBALL TERM A SACRIFICE BUNT egollesas “CAIN, IF YOU DON'T STOP CRYING I'LL GIVE YOU TO THE FIRST DIPLODOCUS WE MEET A Drug on the Market N engineer in St. Louis has devised a thinking ma- chine which carries out ideas, transmits impulses and forms habits. When it is fully developed it is pre- dicted that it will take the place largely of the human brain. The great difficulty with the success of this thinking machine, considered from the commercial standpoint, is that there is no demand for such an article. It is not needed in the conduct of our public affairs, in public schools or in the stock exchanges. As an experiment it might possibly be tried upon some of our authors, but they would have to be taught how to use it first. comicbooks.com