Life, 1915-09-23 · page 40 of 48
Life — September 23, 1915 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the fractious peace advocacy movement of the pre-WWI era. The main advertisement promotes an upcoming October issue of *Everybody's Magazine* featuring an article by William Hard that will expose the hypocrisy and internal contradictions among peace advocates. The satire targets prominent figures including **Jane Addams** (social reformer), **William Jennings Bryan** (populist politician), and **John Hays Hammond** (mining magnate)—all known peace advocates who disagreed fundamentally about what "peace" meant. The joke is that these self-proclaimed pacifists "almost quarrel about their different Peace views," undermining their moral authority. The right-side "Free War Editorial" is itself satirical: it offers newspaper editors a cynical boilerplate war editorial that simultaneously acknowledges the war's horror while defending it as beneficial for "business interests." This mocks how media outlets rationalize supporting war. The overall message: peace advocates lack credibility, and wartime discourse is compromised by commercial interests—a cynical commentary on Progressive-era political rhetoric circa 1914-1915.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: z if[Nyousp so Yyeryodys f ‘ : hot Science MAGAZINE when you install a UMPH Automatic Water Heater The water heater that is endorsed by men who know—architects, plumb- ers, mechanical engineers | —wonderfully simple and en- tirely automatic—heats water furnishes inexhaustible, steaming hot P | yi A ( } I y A D ‘ 7 OC T | turn of a hot water faucet anywhere f \ E he laundry—the garage—very ineape: sive—burns gas only when water is being drawn— Write for the Hot Water Book HUMPHREY COMPANY DIY. OF BUD MFO Co Kalamax ARE YOU? . Strange as it may seem, all Peace advocates do not “advocate” alike. Indeed not. Some believe in one kind of Peace. Others in another kind. And so on. Sometimes they almost quarrel about their dif- EWSPAPER editors who may sud- y denly need a good war editorial ferent Peace views. will find the following perfectly harm. less and are welcome to use it gratis. In a brilliant article in the October EVERY- de is deem Up ee asito’ Deues. sense less as most war editorials and at the BODY'S William Hard will present the various same time to give the impression that and numerous kinds of Peace advocated by the writer possesses a more or less numerous and various kinds of advocates, complete knowledge of the universe * coupled with unlimited perspicacity : Free War Editorial The war in Europe drags its weary He will show you why Jane Addams believes length onward, While there is still in her kind of Peace and William Jennings Bryan much that is not clear concerning : + ? the tactics of the various generals, in his kind, and why John Hays Hammond tough is, already Kaowel to prove agrees with neither of them and believes in a conclusively that the duration of the rfectl brand of his own. war will be more than another year. pe: ly good As predicted in these columns . several weeks ago, the Allies will Whether you believe in Peace or War, don’t hardly make any material. progress 4 | (ae until aggressive measures are under- miss this article in taken. Germany, on the other hand, feels that it can reasonably count on the sympathy of the Kaiser in any emergency that might arise, and this, of course, materially enhances the difficulties of reliable prognosti- cation. Such news as we have 4 Z, Q been able to get from Petrograd is Y OQ Uf i more or less reassuring to people who wanted such things to happen, MAGAZINE although in other quarters it has had the effect of upsetting calculations. FOR OCTOBER The war is very horrible, but at the same time it is a splendid thing for many business interests, and therefore it is not wise to denounce it without first taking everything into consideration.