Life, 1917-03-29 · page 16 of 42
Life — March 29, 1917 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical cartoon depicts a gunman shooting at a prone victim while a group of men labeled with various nations (appearing to include Germany) stand passively in the background. The caption sarcastically asks if anyone will help. The accompanying article critiques the congressional seniority system for committee chairmanships. It argues that assigning chairs based purely on length of service—rather than competence—produces incompetent leadership, particularly from Southern congressmen who consistently re-elect representatives. The cartoon appears to illustrate this systemic failure: the "lady" (likely representing America or democratic governance) is under attack while those responsible for protection or intervention either refuse to help or enable the aggressor. The article specifically names Chairman Fitzgerald as "pro-German" and Senator Stone as obstacles to effective foreign policy—suggesting that outdated congressional rules allow those unsympathetic to American interests to obstruct necessary action. The cartoon thus visualizes the article's core complaint: institutional inertia enables incompetence and obstruction of national interest.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
mOLLANe oemeann The Gunman: ANYONE ELSE WANT TO HELP THE Committee Chairmanships in Congress Y custom, both in the Senate and the House, chairmanships of com- mittees are assigned to members who have longest served on them. Fit or unfit, the committee member of the majority party who has been longest there is made chairman when there is a change. The southern states have the wise habit of continuing their men in Congress. Accordingly the Southern- ers in this Congress have nearly all the chairmanships. The custom is bad and should be abated. Congress is short of compe- tent leaders. Those that it has should be put to the fore regardless of the precedent that would promote incompe- tents because their constituents are aithful. Every committee should be free to choose its best man for chair- man, without regard to his length of service. And when, cither branch of Congress is of the same party as the administ: tion, it should be so organized as to ¢ the administration support The late Congress was not so organ- ized, The Speaker of the House, Mr. rk, supported the administration; the Democratic leader of the House, Mr. Kitchin, was out of sympathy with the administration in many particu i and made no secret of it; the Chair- man of the Ways and Means Com- Lavy? mittee, Mr. Fitzgerald, of Brooklyn, is understood to be of the ian, pro- German, party; the late Chairman of the Military Committee, Mr. opposed to any effective scheme of mil preparation, and very useful to n interests. Next in importance to the amend ment to the rules governing debate in Hay, was the Senate is the abolition of the bad chairmanship habit in both Houses The first step in this latter alleviation would naturally be the removal of Sen ator Stone from the Senate's Commit- tee on Foreign Affairs. Political Maxim EVER undertake anything that you can't get somebody to do. comichooks.qom