Life, 1917-07-19 · page 17 of 40
Life — July 19, 1917 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top cartoon "The Drill of the Home Defense League"** depicts armed civilians (the Home Defense League) drilling in a field. This references WWI-era concerns about German-American loyalty and preparedness, mocking the notion of organizing German-Americans into defensive militia units. **The text below discusses German-American draft resistance**, specifically referencing "Mr. Viereck" (likely George Sylvester Viereck, a known German propagandist during WWI). Life argues against exempting unwilling German-Americans from military service, asserting most German-Americans actually support the U.S. cause against Germany. **Bottom cartoon "Greed"** shows a politician and two other figures discussing theft, satirizing political corruption and self-interest during wartime. **"Frazzled" section** criticizes overuse of moral outrage in propaganda, suggesting constant emotional appeals through bold headlines exhaust public attention—a meta-commentary on Life's own satirical medium and wartime messaging saturation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE DRILL OF THE HOME DEFENSE LEAGUE practice so that it will be more comfortable for German- Greed Americans Ss LLA: I wish I knew where I could steal s We do not object to any feasible modification of the in a law-abiding and respecti: draft law that will relicve unwilling German-Americans Bess: Dear me! What d from fighting Germans. Many German-Americans are not as that? unwilling. Plenty of them have volunteered, and plenty more heartily disapprove the present aims and conduct of the German Imperial government, and stand ready, if called upon, to back the government of the United States in any service. 3utas for Mr. Viereck, there seems little room for doubt as to which side he is on in this war. He is, and has been all along, for Germany, and we have not been able to escape the conviction that he is opposed to every action, draft in- cluded, taken in this country to beat Germany, and wants the war-masters of his native land to win their war, and practices, day in and day out, to help them do it. { Frazzled “We have lost our capacity for moral indignation.” —Jeremiah, up to date. OT exactly. Our capacity for moral indignation is about like any decent people's capacity for moral in- dignation—it won't stand to be bathed in sixty-point bold- face half a dozen times a day for three years without going a bit flabby. The more spirited the steed the less the whip. avails, and the wise press-agent, bearing that fact in mind, tempers his zeal with a little mercy. “ We'll dally ‘round the fag, boys” comicbooks.com