Life, 1916-02-17 · page 16 of 52
Life — February 17, 1916 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces about authority and control. **"The S.P.P.C." (Top):** A mock advertisement proposes forming a "National Society for the Protection of Parents Against Their Children." The satire lists common parental frustrations—children destroying furniture, attending movies, ignoring advice, charging purchases to their fathers, taking joy rides, and generally behaving disrespectfully. The humor targets generational conflict and parental loss of authority, suggesting parents need organized defense against modern youth misbehavior. This reflects early-20th-century anxieties about changing family dynamics and young people's independence. **"There Is None" (Bottom):** A brief political commentary on "orders in council" (likely WWI-era British trade restrictions). The text ironically notes there's no *popular* resentment—only professional/expert criticism—suggesting the general public either doesn't understand or doesn't care about the policy, contradicting a claim in the New York World. **The Dinosaur Cartoon:** Mrs. Sharp-fang refuses to tolerate another pet, already having three prehistoric creatures. This appears to be a humorous illustration separate from the main articles, playing on absurdist family management themes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
288 The &.. P.. PC. NATIONAL Society for the Pro- tection of Parents Against Their Children is about to be formed. Will you join? If you are a parent, and have grow- ing sons and daughters, you may preciate the advantages of such a so- ciety. From humble beginnings like this sometimes great reforms have emerged. Have you any genuine authority over your children? Are they so subjected to all of the deterrent outside influences of the day that they are constantly get- ting away from you and doing about as they please? Have they any sense of responsibil- ity? And concentration? Do they have the following tendencies? Viz.: To destroy furniture. To spend their time at the “movies.” To treat your old-fashioned advice with supercilious abandon. To charge things to “ father.” To invite their friends to partake of all kinds of nourishment in your home, without previous permission. To go on joy rides. To pick up and appropriate to them- selves the things belonging to you which ought not to be picked up, and to leave unpicked up those things that they ought to pick up. To display their bad manners not only to yourselves, but to those of your friends whose respect for your abi to run your own household you would like to maintain. In general, to expect that you will spend the most of your time in cater- ing to their pleasure, while they refuse to do anything disagreeable. This society has grown out of a great necessity. It is purely defensive. Par- ents everywhere are asked to join, There Is None The popular resentment against the orders in council grew out of a fecl- ing that the British government was not playing the game fairly. —New York World. UITE true, except that there is no popular resentment against the British orders in council. What there is is all professional and expert, merce llRaet om, Mrs. Sharp-fang: CURLY, 1 WILL NOT ALLOW ANY MORE PETS ABOUT THE VLACE, YOU HAVE THREE DINOSAURS AND A PLESIOSAURUS, AND IF YOU THINK ULL STAND FOK A STRAY ICHTHYOSAURUS YOU'RE MISTAKEN. comicbooks.com