Life, 1917-05-03 · page 4 of 42
Life — May 3, 1917 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece uses animals to critique media competition and patriotic messaging during World War I. An eagle and dog compete to appear on magazine covers, each demanding "Count On Me" — a patriotic rallying cry. LIFE magazine claims it will also feature patriotic content while maintaining subscription rates. The "How?" section outlines America's wartime priorities: raising a 100,000-soldier army for Europe, rationing, suppressing pacifist speech, and monitoring Washington. LIFE acknowledges these serious demands while asserting its own role in providing occasional humor alongside coverage of national necessities. The satire gently mocks competing publications' patriotic posturing while LIFE positions itself as balancing duty with levity—maintaining business as usual during wartime crisis.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Our principal business during the next few months is to get a good army started, to send.at least 100,000 American soldiers to Europe, to make everybody cut down rations, to bring the paci- fists to terms, to dig in our garden and to keep a weather eye on Washington. In addition to all this, we hope to put in the paper something occasionally humorous. By the way, the sub- scription rates remain the same. Think of that, ye who are concerned with the nation’s nec- , essities, 9 “Count On Me,”’ Says the eagle. “Count On Me,”’ Says the dog on the cover of next week’s issue. “Count On Me,”’ Says Lire. yi 7 Special 7 Offer vo Enclosed // ,. find” One Dol- ; lar (Canadian $1.13, Foreign $1.26). “Send Live for three months to Open aly to rew subscribers; no sub- Scriptions renewed at this rate. LIFE, 17 West 31st Street, New York. 87 One Year, $5.00, (Canadian, $5.52; Foreign, $6.04.) comicbooks.com