Life, 1917-08-09 · page 16 of 42
Life — August 9, 1917 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**German Attributes Poem:** Kenneth L. Roberts' satirical verse mocks German culture comprehensively—their wit, beer, food, architecture, art, music, opera singers, sportsmanship, and morals. The poem appears wartime propaganda (likely WWI era), characterizing Germans as crude, humorless, and immoral. It concludes by framing the war as liberation ("May the world be free"). **"Wide Open Marriages" Section:** This satirizes a Massachusetts court ruling recognizing Mormon clergy marriages. The piece argues if Mormon clergy can marry people, why not barbers or street-car conductors? It jokes that marriage should be as easy as divorce—mocking both loosening marriage standards and, implicitly, suggesting marriage is as simple and consequence-free as mundane transactions. **"Mendacious Fisherman" Cartoon:** A fisherman claims to be drowning while his friend skeptically demands proof. The humor plays on fishermen's reputation for exaggeration and tall tales. **"Ring-side Seat" Cartoon:** A woman pressures Sam to marry to avoid military service. Sam refuses, asserting he wants to fight "a man"—implying marriage would be a worse fate than war.
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German Attributes RMAN wit is heavy: So is German beer rman food is coarse and crude: German books are drear. German architecture Has no lasting grace: German style is simply vile: German plots are base. German opera singers Bore us with their weight: Few can stand the German band Playing Hymns of Hate. Dry is German music: rman art is poor: German men, nine times in ten, Play the beastly boor. Sportsmanship and manners Have no German friends: Honor, too, is lost to view, When it serves their ends, Germans have no morals: German jokes are flat: Stupid, dull and thick of s Germans are, and ull, From this awful Kultur May the world be free, And, by might of truth and right, Safe for you and me. Kenneth L. Roberts. Wide Open Marriages CCORDING to a dispatch from Boston, Judge Loring of the Su- preme Court has ruled that marriages in Massachusetts by Mormon clerg: men are valid, and will be so recog nized by the courts. Apparently no. obstacles are going to be placed in the way of people getting married in Massachusetts, except, possibly, such incidental ones as the high cost of living. But there is really no reason why the line should be drawn at Mormon clergymen. These gentlemen, it is quite truc, are experts at marrying, and from practice could probably marry a man oftencr in a given period than any other expert. But marrying other people, after all, is not a difficult job, considering the trouble it causes, AMendacious Fisherma Friend Who Knows Him: and doesn’t take any more expert knowledge than changing a tire. not extend the privilege to policemen, barbers, street-car conductors messenger boys? Getting married nowadays ougnt to be made as easy as getting a divorce, or getting shot. net! i'M DROWNID S YE'LL HAVE TO PROVE IT FiRST! MES SMITH: Sam, are you going to get married, like some other people I’ve heard of, to keep from going to war? Sam: No'm, I ain't goin’ to git mar- ried. If I has to fight, I want to fight a man! A RING*SIDE SEAT comicbook