Life, 1917-08-23 · page 32 of 40
Life — August 23, 1917 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains WWI-era satire targeting **Herbert Hoover** and wartime food conservation efforts. **"Little Herbie Hoover"** mocks Hoover's role as Food Administrator during World War I. The poem satirizes his campaign urging Americans to ration butter, meat, and other foods—using childlike vernacular to ridicule the earnest messaging. "Herbie" becomes a nagging character enforcing wartime sacrifice ("the Calories'll git you"). **The cartoon** shows Uncle Sam at a desk, where a man requests a pension for letting his wife join "preparedness clubs and hysterical organizations" while he stayed home ruining his business. Uncle Sam grants it—satirizing how such patriotic volunteering is rewarded while productive citizens suffer. **"Our Boys—Keep Them Clean"** addresses military morality, arguing the government must protect soldiers' health and virtue in training camps—a reference to widespread concern about vice near military bases. **The joke exchange** at bottom mocks simple reasoning: a housewife defines weeds pragmatically (anything she hoes up). An Irishman proposes "World Democracy" with himself as king—absurdist humor about solving post-war problems.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ITTLE Herbie Hoover's com For the less we eat of butter, th An’ all us other chil'ren, when o We gather up around the fire an A-listenin’ to the proteins that } An’ the Calories that git you Ef | you don't } “watch 4 An’ little Herbie Hoover say: You better cat the things the Fe An’ cheat the garbage pail, an’ Ef you don't watch i An’ don't get fresh a-talkin’ of Or the Calories'll git you | “THIS IS UNCLE SAM?” “YES. WHAT CAN 1 DO FoR You?” “1 WANT A PENSION.” “WHAT MAVE YOU DONE TO DESERVE 1 “OL LET MY WIFE JOIN ALL THESE PRE VAKEDNESS CLUUS AND HYSTERICAL OR- GANIZATIONS, WHILE 1 STAVED AT HOME TO TAKE CAKE OF THE CHILDREN AND LET MY BUSINESS GO TO KUIN, AND MY WIFE 1S A PERMANENT INVALID FROM NEKVOUS- PATRIOTIC-FROSTRATION.” “YOU SHALL HAVE THE PENSION.” An’ gobble up the corn-pone an’ SIIERFE Little Herbie Hoover ne to our house to sta; To make us scrape the dishes clean, an’ keep the crumbs away, n’ learn us to make war-bread, an’ save up all the grease, he sooner we'll have peace. ur scanty meals is done, n’ has the mostest fun lerbie tells about, out! when the fire burns low, i An’ the vitamines are creepin’ from the shadow sof’ an’ slow, vod Folks says they’s plenty of, give all butcher’s meat the shove, veg'tables an’ fish, An’ save yer drippin's an’ yer sweets, an’ lick clean ever’ dish, what you won't do without, out! Sophie Kerr. Our Boys—Keep Them Clean ARE) control over their boys after those boys have been taken over by the gov- ernment into the army or navy. The responsibility laid upon the govern- ment to see that our boys are kept clean is therefore paramount. The highest duty that any boy can perform for his country is to give his life. The highest duty the country owes him is to preserve his health and his morals. TS can no longer’ exercise Every country owes it to parents to be able to say at the conclusion of war: “Here is your boy back again, as good morally as when he left home.” nce has taught us, and ob- servation shows us, who are the real enemies that surround our training camps. Vice slays its thousands where bullets and shells slay their hundreds. We must guard the cleanliness of our The boys in every possible manner. Y. M. CG is doing much. An a rate knowledge of the danger, on the part of the whole people, will do more than temporary makesh FOR THE DURATION OF THE WARK Infallible UBURBS: Of course you can tell the difference between a weed and a plant? Mrs. Sunurss: Of course, Jack—if 1 hoe it up, it's a plant! ROFESSOR: Pat, what is your solution to the World Problem? Pat: Well, sor, I think we should have a World Democracy—with an Irishman for king! Allies look to U. S. for quick ac- tion.—Headline. LL, why not? Josephus Daniels is still at the helm, and Congress is still talking. comicbooks erm