Life, 1916-02-10 · page 8 of 44
Life — February 10, 1916 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top illustration depicts "Mrs. Knott Poore's Costume Ball," a high-society event featuring figures in historical and theatrical dress, labeled with names including George Washington and various other characters. Below, two article sections critique contemporary issues: **"Indirectness and Confusion"** satirizes President Rea of the Pennsylvania Railroad for suggesting universities and hospitals are partially responsible for maintaining railroads—the author argues this indirect economic logic is absurd and that railroads should be directly taxed instead. **"Helping Wilson"** mocks Editor Simonds of the *Tribune* for repeatedly calling President Wilson unflattering names (bluffer, four-flusher, incompetent), then praising the "good" responses these criticisms supposedly generated. The satire suggests Simonds wants credit for Wilson's success despite his attacks.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Ceosrta) GEORGE WASHINGTON, MR. ORVALL THYRST; MARC AN’ AT MRS, KNOTT POORE'S COSTUME BALL NY, MR, WURS! ‘ YUCELISS ; MEPHIS- TOPHELES, MR. PLUTO BULGE ; MARIE ANTOINETTE, MRS. KNOTT POORE ; CLEOPATRA, MRS. J. GADDING- GADDING; SIR WALTER RALEIGH, MR. DEDLEIGH BOHR, AND LITTLE BO-PEEP, FREEK Indirectness and Confusion RESIDENT REA of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad bids us remember, when puzzling over the railroad prob- Jem, that the railroads are owned “in part by universities, hospitals and other philanthropical enterprises” which de- pend upon railroad interest and divi- dends for their maintenance. But isn't it a very poor idea to offer our universitics, hospitals, etc., such an indirect and precarious sup- port? These needs of society are too important to be dependent upon pos- sible delinquencies of railroad directors and fiscalizers. Why not come right forward and support our universities by direct taxation as we support our grade schools? Why not support our hospitals by direct taxation as we sup- port our armics and navies that often help to fill hospitals? Why throw transportation and education and therapeutics and philanthropy all to- gether in one grand economic mix-up, so that we can’t consider one without having all the others clamor for simul- taneous consideration? Helping Wilson HE greatest recent service to Presi- dent Wilson has been done by Editor Simonds of the Tribune by pic- turing him repeatedly and at length as a bluffer, a four-flusher, a man ignorant of the meaning of the lan- guage he used, and a timid incompetent who had blundered into trouble. Mr. Simonds’ zeal in assault and defamation has caused a good many people to take a good look at Mr. Wil- son and think him over.» The returns are coming in, and they are a good deal more flattering to Mr. Wilson than to Mr. Simonds. MRS. SHIMMEREN Recruiting Officer: you ARE CON- SCRIPTED AND MUST PRESENT YOURSELF AT ONCE FOR ENROLLMENT. “WHY, I AM NOT ELIGIBLE! PORT OF A Gi AMBULANCE!” “THAT'S ALL RIGHT; WE WANT MEN TO DIG TRENCHES,” THE RE- WOULD PUT ME IN AN