Life, 1916-06-01 · page 14 of 44
Life — June 1, 1916 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon, titled "Marooned," depicts Uncle Sam trapped within the continental United States, surrounded by "WAR" labels. This satirizes American isolationism during World War I—the nation is figuratively boxed in by global conflict, unable to escape or act freely internationally. The "Going Up" illustration shows a man who mortgaged his house to buy an automobile, now discovering he must mortgage the car to buy gasoline. This critiques consumer debt culture and rising fuel prices, likely reflecting post-war economic strain. The dialogue jokes and "Things You Shrink from Knowing" section present wartime statistics about militia pay, industrial deaths, murder rates, and ammunition capacity—delivering grim facts with sardonic commentary typical of Life's satirical approach to serious national issues.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LAPP After All, Size Is Something Americans are often chided for our propensity to- wards bigness. We work like mad for size. We organize enormous trusts; we build enormous buildings and carry them up to enormous heights; we struggle for huge circulations for our periodic we often say, This is a big country. We glory in big cities. All that looks like foolishness to sophisticated observers, who remember that Greece was a small country, and feel, with justice, that quality counts for far more than Nevertheless, after all, size is something, especially in a big scrap. When there is a battle between hea’ eights lightweights do not count for much. What tells is size, weight, height, reach. There is probably more sense than the wise appreciate in the blind American grasping after bigness. In the clash of world powers Destiny has need of very powerful in- struments. She sees to it that they shall be ready when the pinch comes. “GOING UP” ough SAD PREDICAMENT OF THE MAN WHO MORTGAGED HIS As it is, with the help of the papers we suffer pretty rouse To BUY AN AUTOMOBILE AND FINDS THAT ME WILL steadily from what doesn’t happen. HAVE TO MORTGAGE HIS AUTOMOBILE TO BUY GASOLINE IF it were not for the newspapers we would never suffer, except from what happens to us. Things You Shrink from Knowing HE new militia bill increases the pay of the militia, but gives no promise of increased effi- ciency or adequate federal control. The deaths from industrial ac- cidents each year equal the killed in battle and died of wounds of any two years of the Civil War. The murder rate in the United States is about nine and a half times that of Switzerland. Eighty-five per cent. of our am- munition, arms making and pow- der making capacity is within easy reach of the sea. Defined The Right Man If we lose sea control we could get no nitrate from Chile. With- ILLIE WILLIS: What's a “patri- RS, BILTER: Shall we get a | out this we could make no powder. ot,” pa? detective to guard Clara's wed- Para Wits: Generally aman who ding presents? did some great deed so long ago that Bitter (looking them over): You people have forgotten the selfish mo- don't need a detective; all you need is tive that really prompted it. a tinsmith. We spend about ten times as much for chewing gum as we do for ammunition of all kinds. comicbooks.com