Life, 1916-04-06 · page 16 of 80
Life — April 6, 1916 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains satirical political commentary on American foreign policy during World War I, likely from 1915-1917. **The Main Cartoon** ("In the Spring a Young Man's Fancy") illustrates a man fishing or net-casting by a river while a woman stands nearby—a romantic scene accompanying Morris Gilbert's romantic poem about April and springtime. **The Satirical Section** ("Our Shame Department Campaign") mocks American reluctance to aid France in WWI. It sarcastically suggests America is profiting from the war while refusing to directly assist France—who had helped America in the Revolutionary War. The fake "advertisement" cynically proposes the national motto should be "Dollars, doubt and degradation, forever," attacking American isolationism and war profiteering. **The "Signs" Joke** at bottom is unrelated political humor about making new friends as a sign old ones have "found you out" (discovered your faults). The page's satire targets American financial self-interest over military alliance obligations during WWI.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
RS NE “IN THE SPRING A YOUNG MAN'S FANCY—" Dalliance HERE'S a hidden, green-swept garden with a plot within its wall Where a lichened Pan is luting to a fawn; There's a fountain rim a-brimming in a beaded waterfall, And an alabaster sun-dial on the lawn. A slender moon comes out at night to dust the dew with silver— Then like a swoon the scarlet sun will rise Mid spray of dusky opal in a veil to hide its splendor ’Til the little stars run back to Paradise. For April is a garden we have fashioned in our dreams, And Pan is at his magic not in vain, And his winsome music whispers round the garden wall and seems As witching as the gusts of springtime rain. Beware! Shall we beware how we reckon April's gifts? Lo, the beauty that incarnadines the Spring Soon passes like a phantom where the petals lie in drifts— And the lute of Pan is such a fragile thing! Morris Gilbert. Our Shame Department Campaign (Under the charge of J. Morganblaum Henryhock, who has agreed to spend over a million dollars) Advertisement Number Two RANCE helped us win the war of the Revolution in 178. Now look at France fighting for life. God helps those who help themselves. We are helping ourselves to everything in sight, Nothing succeeds like profits. If at first you don’t succeed, crawl, crawl again. Our sense of national shame dates from the morning the news about the Lusitania came over the cables. Now there is nothing to do but to keep on backing water. If in the future we must fight, we should do it in the cheap con- sciousness that we have left nothing undone to go back on our friends and preserve the balance of trade in our favor. Our motto: Dollars, doubt and degradation, forever. Signs OKU So you believe in signs, ch? Well, when a man is always making new friends, what is that a sign of? Pokus: It's likely to be a sign that his old friends have found him out. comicbooks.com