Life, 1916-03-09 · page 14 of 44
Life — March 9, 1916 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Cartoon ("Under Control"):** The illustration depicts a man in a rocking chair controlling two figures (a woman and cherub) with strings like puppets. This satirizes American political/social control during what appears to be the World War I era. **Text Commentary:** The three opinion pieces debate American neutrality and Germany: - **"Not Guilty!"** argues Life shouldn't blame Germany, asserting Germany wants peace and that the U.S. shouldn't support other nations against it. - **"Servia Does Not Hate Us Yet"** references King Peter of Serbia expressing appreciation for American support, suggesting America may be drawn into European conflicts. - **"Purely Platonic"** claims America's involvement would be non-combative—purely ideological support. The page satirizes American isolationist arguments while hinting at inevitable entanglement in European war.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Not Guilty! HE recent Get Ready Number of Lire stirs up the Indianapolis Star to class this paper among the “shallow- brained statesmen” who are trying “to make Germany our foe,” and have in- curred from the President “the stern- est rebuke that has been wrung from his patient and prudent soul.” Not guilty! Lire does not want Germany for “our foe” if it can be avoided, but it is not ready to forfeit the regard of all the rest of the civilized world in order to avoid it. It wants peace and security to be restored to the world. If they can only return over the body of a prostrate Germany it is for having them back by that route. It does not want a peace based on German domination of all the other nations. Such a peace would be neither pleasant nor secure. That's all there is to Lire’s antipathy to Germany. It does not hate Germans, cither here or abroad. Indeed, it grieves about them considerably, and wishes to Heaven that they could and would cleanse themselves of Prussian- ism and of the terrible imputation of being enemies of mankind. EWRY produced the people who stoned the prophets. But it also produced the prophets. Servia Does Not Hate Us Yet ING PETER of Servia has ex- pressed sentiments of deep appre- ciation for what Americans have done for Servia. “May God reward your country,” he said to a correspondent. It is possible that when the dis- pleased of Europe and Asia have made an end of the United States, the Ser- vians will join with the Belgians in exporting a mourning wreath to be laid on the mound where this country lies interred. LARENCE: War must be a hor- rible thing. Cecit: Perfectly dwedful. I have a fwend who was detained abwad, and he went without a single scwap of food for sevwal hours. “CONTENTS NOTED” Purely Platonic I hear you say that this is demand- ing too much, as Roosevelt clearly wants America to go to war against Germany, But this is not the case. * * © Tt is a platonic warfare which ought not to trouble any friend of American neutrality. —Hugo Munsterberg to the Fatherland. D®® German friends, please bear in mind that this is confidential. I love you all in secret, yes I do! And though I may inveigh you all in accents quite torrential, Remember this is best for me and you. I would not harm you with a straw— my love for you's appalling— So if I say I hate you, please don’t mind! If I declare you ought to have a Rooseveltian mauling, It's just my little way of being kind. If I assert your cruelties and frightfulness Teutonic Have made me wish to wipe you off the map, This is a little way of mine to show my love platonic, For everybody knows I hate a scrap! comicbooks.com