Life, 1917-08-30 · page 24 of 40
Life — August 30, 1917 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes prominent American political figures through avant-garde "Cubist" poetry parodies (attributed to Gertrude Stein's modernist style). The cartoons mock pacifists and isolationists during what appears to be WWI-era debate. **Top cartoon**: References General George Washington's cherry tree legend, mocking a general's excuse-making about military conduct—likely critiquing reluctance to wage war effectively. **Bottom cartoon** ("The Brighter Side of Hell: The Pacifist"): Shows a pacifist cowering before aggressive figures, suggesting pacifism is cowardly appeasement. **Poems mock specific senators:** - Stone and La Follette: Criticized for softness, evasiveness, and obstruction ("clog in the pipes, barnacle on the keel of progress") - Rockefeller reference: Mocks wealth obsession ("Money and an old gray wig") The satire attacks these politicians as ineffectual, self-interested, or dangerously opposed to military action—using intentionally difficult modernist verse to mock both the subjects and contemporary avant-garde literary trends.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
G.I: 1 CANNOT TELL A LIE, 1 WENT AROUND IN FIGHTY— FIRST TIME OUT, TO “GENERAL, YOU DON'T DO YOURSELF JUSTICE CERTAIN parties in Washington seem to believe that discussion is the better part of valor THE BRIGHTER SIDE OF HELL THE PACIFIST Cubist Poems (After Gertrude Stein) Senator Wititaa A. Stoxe RAGGING dragging hindering a senile hindrance and a smell of trea Soit and soit, tread soit and speak soft, sneak soit and spy soft { Brain and feet soft and cold, a soft brain and cold feet, { achery, Ersatz und nicht gut. kamerad. \ Bloodlessness and servile nent. Strike me kick me i beat me rob me throw filth at me, iid so weiter, Excellen Soft, soft with fervent flabbiness. Fight not, stand not, 1. Pony puny and a bucket pase strive not, suffer not, endure < of milky water. \ wooden Indian and a crocodile’s tears. | Cotonri, House Mum, mum, mum, mum, mum, mumblety-mum, whisper, | whisper, mum, ' Mum, mum, and a sinuous investigation. Hither, thither and yon and a silent running to the fountai Sibi- lant silence that is an oppressive deluded worship. An exalted ruler with an eye to a blank keyhole; and a glorious intangibility monkeying with the buz Mum, mum, mum, and a nation of anxious questioners. What is it, who is it, where is it, why is it? aw. A growing restlessness and an uneasy resentment. Mumblety, mumblety, hush! Senator Ronert M. La Foutette Bitter bitter and a might have been. Wilfulness and a fat shock of hair, fat wilfulness and a head with a big fat shock of hair, a head with nothing but fatness and hair, lots of hair and a big head. { Blasted hopes and a baleful bitterness and a big fat ¢ Fat hair and a fat ego and a fat head. A clog in the pipes, a barnacle on the keel of progress, a bucket of sand in the gear bo: That which was fight is fear: that which was boldness is timidity and the snarl of a frightened dog. Bah for patriotism. Bah! Bah! Jousx D. Rockrrentrr Money money drab, money halt, money feeble, c money oily. t Mush and milk, petroleum and universities, and a dys- pepsia tablet Hit a golf ball, miss a golf hobble, hobble and miss it a Mon A hundred a thousand a minute, a million a minute, Sacks of it, tons it, mints of it! Grab it and hide it, kiss it and cover it. Money and an old gray wig. all, top a golf ball in. toil, money moil, money oil. Hobble, minute, of comicbooks.¢om'™