Life, 1916-03-09 · page 30 of 44
Life — March 9, 1916 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several distinct satirical pieces critiquing American institutions and attitudes circa 1910s-1920s: **"Unorganized Charity"** argues that spontaneous giving to Belgian war relief (WWI context) proved more generous than organized charity efforts, despite inefficiency. The text mocks formal charity organizations' restrictive methods versus public impulse. **Political cartoon "That Leap Year Dream"** satirizes gender role reversal—a woman pursues a man during leap year (when tradition permitted female courtship), depicted as a fantasy of social inversion. **"Extracts from the Bryan Hand-Book"** parodies William Jennings Bryan quotations, mocking patriotic rhetoric. The "Hyphen Vote" reference likely attacks immigrant voting blocs. **"Modern" sections** satirize: - The Public Service Commission's selective transparency - A piano teacher's indirect complaint about practice noise - The *New York Tribune's* callous stance on bread prices, suggesting only the unemployed need worry about starvation—a critique of editorial indifference to working-class suffering during economic hardship.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
446 Unorganized Charity HE charitable impulse still dwells in our hearts in spite of the efforts of charity organizations to re- move it. The spontaneous and generous outpouring for the Belgians proves that the difficulty experienced by charity organizations in getting contributions from us is no true indication of our feelings. This Belgian charity was not organized. Never was there a charity so highly and so efficiently unorganized. Many of our well-inten- tioned offerings were misdirected and reached undeserving persons, But we did not care. We proceeded on the theory that better a hundred undeserving shall be clothed than that one deserving shall go naked. Organized chari- ties, however, can not possibly proceed on that s. The very idea of organization inhibits such methods. Worthy but misguided charity workers should under- stand, therefore, that their critics have nothing against them personally, but they must not forget that beneath our polite exterior and our feeble bluffs at assisting, we always cherish an instinctive animosity for what they are doing. THAT LEAP YEAR DREAM THE POOR YOUNG MAN 13 SOUGHT BY THE BEAUTIFUL HEIRESS Extracts from the Bryan Hand-Book of Quotations ARBARA FRIETCHE: Spare, if you can, this old gray head And shoot your country’s flag instead. Natuan Hate: My only regret is that I have only two cheeks to be slapped for my country’s sake. Burtat or Sir Joun Moore: Not a sound was heard, not a funeral note, But only a bid for the Hyphen Vote. “EPR * Sammy: poo! wHoo! I've FILLED MY BAG BUT I'VE FORGOT- TEN HOW TO PLAY WITH THESE OTHER TOYS Modem 'HE Public Service Commission has recently given a permit for a new lighting system on the New Haven road, Isn't this a dangerous precedent? The fact that light is being shed on the Public Service Commission itself is no reason why it should feel obliged to extend it elsewhere. The passengers on the New Haven road have been kept in the dark so long now that it seems a pity to dis- turb them in the dim religious light that has been their solace these many years. ONES: Does my daughter's piano practice annoy you? IcHeor: Oh, not at all. But tell me; what does she wear—mittens or boxing-gloves? coo. Let Prices Soar HE New York Tribune takes a most complaisant atti- tude toward the rise in the price of bread. It says that “the only American citizens in danger of starvation at present are those out of employment, and they, for the greater part, can’t afford bread at any price.” Accordingly, the Tribune thinks it would be highly inadvisable to try to lower the price of bread by prohibit- ing or regulating the exportation of foodstuffs. In other words, American citizens should not object to the high cost of living until we are all actually in danger of starvation, comicbooks.com