Life, 1917-04-26 · page 16 of 84
Life — April 26, 1917 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes American pacifists during World War I, mocking their perceived priorities and consistency. **"Let Us Have a Padded Cell"** proposes an asylum for vocal anti-war figures, naming William Jennings Bryan, Amos Pinchot, and others as "noisy persons whose deliverances do not accord with wisdom." The satire suggests pacifists should be institutionalized for their views. **"The Sower"** cartoon ridicules Dr. Charles G. Pease's anti-tobacco campaign for soldiers, implying misplaced priorities during wartime. **"Peace, But—"** mocks pacifists' rhetorical inconsistency, suggesting everyone claims to want peace while offering contradictory justifications. The bottom dialogue mocks pacifists' loyalty claims, depicting a pacifist willing to betray his country for abstract principles of peace—portrayed as absurd and unpatriotic. The overall message: pacifists are impractical ideologues endangering the nation during wartime.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
*LIFE: to get in, but exuberance and untimeliness in disclosing them. The main purpose of the cell should be the relief of the afflicted by affording them a place where they can discharge their minds without damage to themselves or others, Residence should therefore be where the pleading of friends or the publi juntary, except in special cases, interest may warrant shutting up some persons who don't want to go. “it's NO USE PLANTING WHILE THOSE CHICKENS FOLLOW ME” Let Us Have a Padded Cell NE of our national needs is a large, comfortable, padded cell for noisy persons whose deliverances do not accord with wisdom. People of all kinds of views should be admitted to it, and allowed to argue freely and persuade one another. Mr. Bryan should have a ticket, and Amos Pinchot, and Mrs. Villard, and Reverends Haynes Holmes and Eaton, and Doc. Jordan, and Henry All-Wise Wood, and many others. Representative Gardner should have admission, in case he feels a bad spell coming on. As a rule, mere opinions should not qualify applicants Q WHEN A MAN IS IN LOVE To start the list of involuntary inmates the man- agement will hardly go amiss in selecting Dr. Charles G. Pease, who, the papers report, has begun a cam- paign against tobacco for our soldiers. Peace, But— VERYBODY, without a single exception, is in favor of peace, but— The difficulty comes in enumerating, arranging, classifyin, alyzing, explaining and understanding the buts, They are illimitable in their connotations, permutations and combinations. No two men, as they blithely depart from the peace of their fore- fathers and the peace of the Sabbath gospel, intro- “AW, HIM? WHY, HE'S NOTHING BUT A PACIFIST. EVERYBODY LICKS HIM” duce exactly the same reasons with the inevitable conjunction “ but.” His Best Way Out OMETIMES it’s best to fight. Possibly Mayor Mitchel lacked something in discretion in mentioning, in connection with a defense site on Long Island, that Senator Bob Wagnet was born in Prussia, but his sense of when it was best to fight was exactly correct. So It Seems ‘| SAY, Pacifist, you are loyal, aren't ‘ou? “Indeed, I am.” “Loyal to what?” “Loyal to my faith—loyal to peace. “But how about your country?” “Oh, to hell with the country!” comicbooks.com