Life, 1917-05-31 · page 4 of 38
Life — May 31, 1917 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page from World War I era (likely 1917-1918, based on references to "the war") contains a satirical advertisement encouraging American frugality in food consumption. The headline "Be Careful, Mr. American!" urges readers to reduce food consumption, comparing their sacrifice to French citizens' established frugality. The rhetoric suggests wartime rationing messaging—Americans should "go slow on the foodstuff" while maintaining normal spending elsewhere. The lower cartoon shows a parent telling a child they must sacrifice for the war effort ("give our boy's legs to his country"), with the child's cheerful response about subscribing to Life magazine to "keep me cheerful." The satire works on multiple levels: promoting wartime sacrifice while also advertising the magazine itself as a morale-boosting purchase.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Be Careful, Mr. Americal Up to the present moment, haven’t you been stuffing yourself unduly? Fed up on natural resources, have you always , considered what it really means to be frugal in your diet? Now, being frugal doesn’t mean that you are going to starve yourself out. It means only that you are going to imitate our glorious brothers in France, who have always been frugal, and whose spirit and intellects have been all the brighter in consequence. Go slow on the foodstuff, Mr. Ameri- can. But in everything else buy as usual. Buy your wife clothes ee up your estab- lishment, and if you feel occasionally that the war is getting on your nerves a trifle, subscribe to Lire for the summer, or better yet, for a year. This paper publishes oc- casionally humorous things that will keep you in fairly good humor. Next week’s colored cover, ‘‘Helping Grandpa,”’ is an example. Obey that impulse. 7 Enclosed find One lar (Conadian $1.13, Foreign $1.26). “Send Lire for three months to “Well, mother, I suppose we must do our bit and give our boy’s legs to - his country next autumn,” Open only to new subscribers; no sub- * Sure: And fin the ‘meantime: T scriptions renewed at this rate. shall become a regular subscriber to LIFE, 17 West 31st Street, New York. 90 Lire this summer, just to keep me cheerful.” . One Year, $5.00. (Canadian, $5.52; Foreign, $6.04.) comicbooks.com