Life, 1915-12-23 · page 38 of 40
Life — December 23, 1915 — page 38: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes **Helen Keller**'s participation in Henry Ford's 1916 Peace Expedition. The article mocks Keller for advocating about labor and factory conditions while seemingly lacking firsthand knowledge to back her claims. The satire turns on an ironic contrast: Keller argued that factory owners deliberately encouraged large families to create a cheap labor supply. *Life* ridicules this as baseless opinion—the "Evening Post" apparently refuted it by showing industrial growth coincided with *declining* birth rates. The piece compares her to a "phonograph," suggesting she merely repeats arguments fed to her rather than forming independent judgments. The comparison to a "blind leader of the blind" makes her activism seem contradictory given her disabilities and apparent reliance on secondhand information. This represents *Life's* skeptical, often dismissive editorial voice toward progressive reformers of that era—even famous, sympathetic figures like Keller.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
One almost hears her voice as she says in the Call: These persons, for the sake of profits alone, deliberately encourage the workers to have large families, that their little ones may be driven to labor, that the factories shall have them. Alas, there are no such persons, or not enough to count, and the Evening Post points out that the rise of the fac- tory system has been closely shadowed by the decline of the birthrate. Perhaps as a blind leader of the blind Helen belonged with Henry’s crew. Peace-making is a blind business ; so is war-making. Henry and Helen are two very kind hearts, imperfectly equipped to see the whole of life. Henry called his expedition. a crusade, and there was one crusade in which ten thousand virgins were enlisted, but they did not get to the Holy City. sae COLOR IN VOGUE The pictorial charm for which Vogue is every- where noted and valued has depended, until recently, on its artistic reproduction ofdrawings and photographs in black and white. Correct dressers every- where accept the Beginning with the Vanity Number — dated Label November Fifteenth—and later in the Christ- mas Number, Vogue presented to its readers a delightful supplement in colors. as the mark of Fashion in men’s shirts. $1.50 to $7.50 At Haberdashers The Nek-ban-tab, an exclusive feature on Emery shirts, is a convenience in inserting collar button. W.M. Steppacher & Bro., Inc., Philadelphia Helen and Henry ELEN KELLER was named among the recruits for the Ford Peace Expedition, but did not go. When it comes to participation in political activities, very much the same results may be had from a phonograph as from Helen Keller. What is talked into her, or read into her, will come out, but she is obviously incapacitated to gather knowledge for herself from the tree it grows on, or to get any other than a reflected view of this world She seems to have opinions on all subjects, and she beats the phonograph in that she"imparts her personal sound to the ideas that are entrusted to her. In the Holiday Number, now on sale, appears the third of the new color supplements and the fourth will soon be on the newsstands in the Lingerie Number, for January 1. These colored inserts will be followed from time to time by others equally attractive in subsequent numbers of the magazine. VOGUE 443 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK CONDE NAST, Publisher Twenty-five cents acopy. Four dollars a year. Twenty-four numbers, To avold disappointment newsstand buyers should order Vogue ia advance, EDNA WOOLMAN CHASE, Editor