Life, 1917-08-02 · page 25 of 40
Life — August 2, 1917 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Cartoon:** The sketch depicts a domestic scene where a doctor is questioned about a husband's sanity. The wife responds that she's been married twice before and her current husband "acted about the same as the others"—a joke suggesting that male behavior (implied to be foolish or unreasonable) is universally consistent across husbands, so she cannot determine if this one is uniquely "crazy." **The Article: "Make Democracy Safe for the World"** Written during WWI (references to "great war" and Russia), this piece argues Americans must demonstrate democracy's competence at home to justify promoting it globally. The author criticizes Congress members who obstruct war legislation—specifically mentioning Prohibition riders attached to a Food Bill—as undermining democracy's credibility. He equates such obstruction with enemy activity, claiming some opposition is "pro-German." The piece calls for eliminating internal political obstacles to war effort success, framing partisan politics as a threat to democratic legitimacy itself. **The Satire:** Life uses both jest and serious argument to pressure compliance with wartime governance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“ARE YOU SURE HE IS CRAZY, DOCTOR?” “YOU ARE HIS WIFE; YOU OUGHT TO KNOW.” “BUT I'VE BEEN MARRIED TWICE BEFORE, AND I THOUGHT HE ACTED ABOUT THE SAME AS THE OTHERS.” Make Democracy Safe for the World ‘O make the world safe for democracy is one great duty of the hour. Another is to make democracy safe tor the world. This latter duty is no small potatoes, especially in Russia and these Unitea States. In Russia we have done what we can for the moment to help it on, At home we have a lot still to do, and make only moderate haste in doing it. If democracy is so great a cure for the world’s diseases, it belongs to us to demonstrate its efficiency by powerful examples. The projection of Prohibition into the Food Bill, and the long delay over that measure, is the sort of example of democracy that we don’t want. We have got into a great war, and see a vitally important departmént of our government held up in urgent duties by mem- bers who are playing double, trying cither to impede war- measures because they oppose the war, or to use the war necessities to accomplish partisan purposes not related to them, If democracy is shown to be a form of government in which the mischievous few can frustrate the political wishes of the many, it will seem no safer for the world than autocracy. It becomes us therefore to get after citi- zens who practice to that end, just as we get after autoc- racies. Our purpose is to win a safe place in the world for safe democracy. Theirs seems to be to prove that democracy is not up to its job, nor worthy of the world’s acceptance. Not less than the Prussian war-masters such people are our public enemies, and naturally enough it happens that back of their activities are pro-German (Continued on page 197) comicbooks.com