Life, 1917-07-05 · page 11 of 40
Life — July 5, 1917 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon - "The New Uniform":** Two military officers in new uniforms show a woman and children a portrait, saying "We're beginning to see the awful side of war now, aren't we, Mother?" The satire appears to mock soldiers who, despite witnessing war's horrors, still romanticize military service or fail to grasp its brutality. The "new uniform" likely refers to updated military dress that masks the grim realities of combat. **Bottom Cartoon - "Come On, You Slackers, Lend a Hand!":** Depicts dogs attempting to help struggling soldiers or refugees. This satirizes those avoiding military service ("slackers") during wartime, shaming them for not contributing while even animals appear willing to help. Both cartoons use WWI-era themes about patriotic duty and public participation in the war effort.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE NEW UNIFORM “WE'RE BEGINNING TO SEE THE AWFUL SIDE OF WAR NOW, AREN'T WE, MOTHER?” our relations with our neighbors in the world will in- crease the need that our State Department shall be a steady going machine run by practiced hands, and directed always by first-class ability. HE war is driving thousands of able and devoted men out of business and the professions into the ill-paid service of the government. Due proportion of those men ought to be retained in government service. For the gov- ernment job ahead is very big indeed, and likely to compel the service of the best minds and energies of the country. For a generation past, especially in the North, such minds and energies have been mainly diverted to industrial de- velopment and the money-making occupations. They have neglected politics and the public service. As a natural consequence they have lost political control of the country. If they are to regain it they must work for it; work as many, many admirable men are now working, with self- sacrifice, with patriotism, with devotion, to serve and save the United States. We ought to have a troop of supermen to run the coun- try for the next twenty-five years. We have not got them. Neither has any other country got them. But we have as good men as there are, and they are getting on the job. Somehow they will contrive it that our affairs will be managed as they need to be, and that we shall have efficient government without incurring the evils of bureaucracy. E.S.M. Essential ITH all the advances in the art of war, it is still kill- ing that counts, just as it has counted ever since men first fell foul of one another, Hence the need of such restriction of the food supply as shall keep people from eating themselves to death. When life by the loss of it is in a way to uphold the nation’s honor, it becomes too precious to be thrown away in the pursuit of mere pleasure. i “COME ON, YOU SLACKERS, LEND A HAND!"” comicbooks.com