Life, 1917-09-13 · page 31 of 44
Life — September 13, 1917 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes **German militarism and American anti-German sentiment during World War I**. The "Cubist Poems" mock **Gertrude Stein's experimental writing style** while using fragmented language to caricature German character traits—the first poem depicts fear and instability ("wobble, totter, crash"), while the second brutally describes a "Prussian" figure as crude, deceptive, and brutal ("stubborn cabbage head"). The cartoon illustration shows a submarine detection device with tentacle-like sensors in water—a contemporary WWI military innovation. "Accessories All" sarcastically suggests indicting **Kaiser Wilhelm II** for war crimes, then pivots to mock American **anti-war senators** (La Follette, Stone, Reed, Gronna, Kirby, Vardaman) as "accessories after the fact"—accusing them of complicity by opposing U.S. war involvement. The bottom dialogue jokes about wartime security concerns. Overall, this reflects **American pro-war propaganda and disdain for German culture and pacifist politicians** circa 1917-1918.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Cubist Poems (After Gertrude Stein) NICHOLAS ROA OBBLE, wobble, wobble. Weak whiskers diluted nervously. , Bomb fear, German fear, army fear, self fear, super- | stitious fear, a palpitating heart and a frantic fear. Colorless numbness wobbling weakly and a cloud of lukewarm cambric whiskers and fear. Yeariness and laxness and an aura of dark oppression ANOFF and persistent wobbling. Fearful aloofness and energetic wobbling. Wobbling mind, wobbling morals, wobbling acts, wobbling crown. Totter, totter, wobble, totter, totter. Crash! A basket for the fearful wobbling pieces! MICHAELIS Grumpy stuffy, stuffy grumpy. An ignorant dark bluc = grouch behind a little pig eye and a Prussian snarl. Stiff ne stiff brain, stiff collar, stiff mustache, stiff i, thoughts, big stiff thoughts and a Big Stiff. = Cruel cruel and a narrow bitterness. Sneak out, lie out, dodge the blame, squirm and sneak and threaten and lie | out and grab at everything with filthy hands. A stubborn cabbage head and an obstinate sourness. DEVICE FOR LOCATING SUBMARINES SO THAT BOMBS MAY BE DROPPED ON THEM Cabbages and sourness and a picce of large diplomatic sauerkraut flavored with brutality. Victory, victory, we are victorious, we have conquered, we are the innocent kindly conquerors, sweet sweet victors and conquerors and a tub of brutal sauerkraut. Sweet peace and a vicious Prussian eagle with bloody talons in a dove's skin Kenneth L. Roberts. Accessories All HE grand jury of Lauderdale County ainst William Hohenzollern, Mississippi, has brought an indictment a German Emperor, charging him with robbery, arson, mur- der, rape, plotting, bribery and conspiracy. The indictment was turned over to the sheriff by the judge, with instruc- tions that service be secured at the earliest possible mo- ment. The grand jury of Lauderdale County auspicious start. Its next move should be to bring a true hill against Senators La Follette, Stone, Reed, Gronna, Kirby and Vardaman as accessories after the fact. has made an Younger One: on, Look! He's now-LEccED! UNE: Did she love him so much? “suet up! DON’T YE KNOW YE AIN’T TO GIVE AWAY No Trss: Why, she married him in spite of her parents’ WAR SECRETS?" urging! comicbooks.com