Life, 1917-06-28 · page 12 of 39
Life — June 28, 1917 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains wartime morale-boosting content from WWI era. The main article "The Bottom Is Not Really Out" encourages Americans not to be discouraged by war news, asserting that Germany won't win, Russia won't collapse entirely, and France isn't defeated. The "Pro-Nutters" section features two park squirrels debating hoarding food—an allegory for wartime rationing and resource management concerns. "Flattery," a small cartoon below, shows two figures discussing patriotic duty, likely encouraging civilian support for the war effort. "The Tribute" article discusses how 30% of garment workers are German or German-American, framing this as democracy's strength—these workers contribute to the war effort despite ethnic background. This addresses anxiety about German-American loyalty during WWI.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1104 The Bottom Is Not Really Out U is usually early summer, but this year it has been late spring. Anyone who lately found himself despondent and subject to impression that the Germans were winning, that Russia was going to the bowwows and the French were dead, was entitled, and is hereby authorized, to charge it to spring. The late spring is the most tired part of the year. The early spring is raw, changeable and hard on human beings. To survive it is an effort, and the way you feel in the late spring is a natural consequence of that effort. Do not knock under to ‘the appre- hensions that spring breeds in you. There is nothing in them. The Ger- mans will not win; Russia will con- tinue on the map; the French are not dead, Also all the neighbors, includ- ing the United States government, the Cabinet, Congress and your wife, are much better, abler and kinder than you think. The main trouble with the world, so far as you are concerned, is that you need a tonic. Then in due time you will need a vacation, and if you get one this year you will be lucky, Pro-Nutters IRST PARK SQUIRREL: Better watch that cop. ECOND Park SQuirReL: always been decent to us. “But, my dear whiskers, it’s a felony now to hoard food.” Why, he’s “Gee! THAT WAS A TOUGH Job!” The Tribute BOUT thirty per cent. of the labor on the garments, uniforms, etc., worn by our army is performed by Germans, either those workmen born in Germany or of German parentage. This is the tribute which autocracy pays to democracy. This thirty per cent. of our workers, if they had re- mained in Germany, would doubtless be fighting in the trenches against th freedom of the world. But now they are quite willing to work on the other side. They have tried democracy, have lived under it, have accepted it, and like it better than autocracy. That is why our vast German-American popu- lation has remained so loyal. They know by practical demonstration what it means to live in a free country. comichooks.com