Life, 1917-07-05 · page 12 of 40
Life — July 5, 1917 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page contains WWI-era anti-German propaganda. The poem "Where the Germans Passed" (by Kenneth L. Roberts) describes devastation inflicted by German forces in 1917, depicting them as brutal destroyers of villages and crops. The main cartoon shows a German military figure at a desk labeled "Executive Offices," dismissively telling a small boy "You are much too small to understand, little boy"—satirizing German secrecy about war conduct and their dismissal of outside criticism. The "And Gets It" joke contrasts socialist and specialist ideologies humorously. The "Guest Chambers" section advocates mobilizing unused home space as hospital rooms for the war effort—practical wartime advocacy rather than satire. All content serves as pro-Allied propaganda justifying American involvement against Germany.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
12 Where the Germans Passed HE Germans passed this way In Nineteen Seventeen: Masses of filthy clay O'erspread the fields, once green; The homes, once snug and neat, Are naught but rubbish piles; Empty the village street; Empty our hearts of smiles. Devils in green-gray suits, Creatures of darkest night, Lowest of all the brutes, They came like a dreadful blight. Honor they held as naught: Right was beyond their ken: How could our God have wrought Such fiends in the shape of men? Fleurette, the young and fait They fouled and flung aside; Old Jacques, with snow-white hair, They beat until he died; be. 5 i ty, Of Jean they made a slave, E Uitte And shipped him o'er the Rhine; = And others, in the grave, Can tell worse tales than mine! There's poison in our wells; Our trees lie on the ground; Our fields are sown with shells; Ruin and death abound, All, all is foul decay ; There's scarce a thing that's clean, For Germans passed this way In Nineteen Seventeen. Kenneth L. Roberts. And Gets It “VYJHAT'S the difference vetween a socialist and a specialist?” “A good deal. A socialist wants half of all you possess, and a spe- cialist wants it all.” YOU ARE MUCH TOO SMALL TO UNDERSTAND, LITTLE BOY Guest Chambers THINK of what it would mean if a census of guest rooms could be taken, and they could be enrolled as a hospital unit! If everything else is being utilized, why not these guest rooms? Surely they would make a noble army. Many patriotic people have offered their houses en- tire as hospitals. For the majority, however, this is im- possible. But almost every home has its guest chamber. There is always room for one more. Let these guest rooms be mobilized. If, in addition to this, some member of the household took a course in first aid, what a wonderful UP-KEEP AND REPAIRS national home hospital service that would be! comicnooksae a