Life, 1917-09-13 · page 15 of 44
Life — September 13, 1917 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"The Fable of the Tortoise and the Hare" (top left):** This is a modern political adaptation of Aesop's fable. Congress, portrayed as the overconfident hare, accepts a race challenge from the tortoise, then falls asleep mid-competition while the tortoise steadily wins. The satire criticizes Congress as lazy and ineffectual—boastful about athletic ability but unable to follow through on commitments. **"Perkins of Peoria" (top right illustration):** Depicts a man speaking with a woman. The caption suggests witty social commentary about understanding women's true meaning. **"Democracy and the Pope" (bottom section):** This brief commentary jokes about the Pope being selected by Italians and suggests Democracy would prefer an enlarged electoral college—satirizing both papal selection methods and democratic processes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
— The Fable of the Tortoise and Congress HE. tortoise, having defeated the hare in the celebrated race, during which the hare overslept himself, was looking around for more laurels to add to his crown, “TI must find some- body whom T can beat even though he never stops running,” he said de- spondently, id the outlook is de- cidedly gloomy.” At this juncture Con- gress appeared, wobbling along in a drunken manner. “O-ho!” cried the tortoise, greatly relieved, “I never thought of Congress! This is really too soft!” So saying, he challenged * Congress to a race. Congress, being proud of its all-around athletic ability, immediately accepted the challenge. The race started almost immediately, and a few hours later the tortoise crossed the finish line alone. Congress still remained at the starting-post, at tempting to disentangle its legs. Filled with elation at having won, the tor- toise sat down to await his rival, Af- ter waiting all the day and half the night, he was overcome by fatigue and fell asleep. While he was in this con- dition, Congress lumbered heavily under the wire, “Who won?” asked a reporter who had arrived on the scene a trifle late. “Why, I did, of course,” replied Congress, noting that there was nobody in sight to dispute his claim. That's why some people are still unaware of the fact that a tor- Sam: PLEASE LET ME ALONE FOR A WHILE. I HAVE TROUBLES ENOUGH JUST Now, Perkins of Peoria: 1'p Give & YE. Y 10 KNOW WHAT SHE MEANS BY JETAME. toise can run rings around Congress where speed is concerned. Morat. The race isn’t always to the swift; but the credit usually .goes to him with the swiftest press-agent. Kenneth L. Roberts. Democracy and the Pope N the world made safe for Democ- racy, the influence of the Pope will be greater if the electorate which chooses him can be enlarged a bit. The old joke of having the Pope selected by Italians is getting somewhat stale. Democracy will want a more representative figure, and perhaps more frequent elections, Imagine the Roman Catholic Church sending mem- bers to-day to an electoral college to choose a presiding bishop for a term of three years! How many de would go instructed for Mercier of Belgium! German airmen set two Verdun hospitals afire, then kill nurses and wounded men in their beds —Newspoper headline, OORAY! It really seems, at times, as if there was no limit to German Kultur, comicbooks.com