Life, 1917-09-13 · page 42 of 44
Life — September 13, 1917 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page mixes advertising with social commentary circa 1917. The main advertisement promotes the WASCO car heating system ($65), promising warmth without waiting at street corners. The substantive content is a letter debating mandatory military vaccinations. The writer, Lora C. Little from Sacramento, criticizes the practice of vaccinating healthy young recruits, claiming it causes illness rather than prevents it. She cites a friend's son who died of meningitis at the Presidio after receiving multiple vaccinations, and notes that 500 of 2,500 soldiers in a camp were hospitalized. Little argues this medical policy is reckless and unpatriotic, comparing it unfavorably to incompetence during the Spanish-American War. She invokes President Wilson's call for criticism of policies, suggesting withholding such criticism itself constitutes disloyalty. The cartoon at bottom ("The Trapper") appears unrelated—a humorous illustration about difficulty catching boys. The historical context: This reflects anti-vaccination sentiment during WWI military mobilization, before modern understanding of vaccines' mechanisms.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
[RSE To Vaccinate or Not to Dont Shiver on the Vaca} "Street Corner-BeWarm tii ince . Inside YourOwnCar What do you think of the medical in of fitting the healthy youth of the try for army service by infecting then with disease—putting them through an illness as a requisite for service? I have just visited a friend in Red Bluft whose son died in hospital at the Presidio late | in May of meningitis, He was a re- cruit, and in the three weeks preceding his illness he had had four or five | separate vaccinations. The last was, ap- parently, the straw that broke the camel's back of his resistance. At that time there were five hundred of the boys in the hospital, and I understand there were | only twenty-five hundred in the camp, If | a mining camp employing twenty-five hundred should have five hundred in hos- WASCO will keep your car warm all the time, pital with disease, the health board ready to start instantly day or night, it being a coal. would be asking what was the matter burning, self-regulating hot-water heating system with that camp. Or if a department that requites attention not more than once ot twice store employing twenty-five hundred Vv a day. had a fifth of its force laid off sick, it Coal Burning One-Car System would deserve investigation. Now, these Self Regulating only | boys are the pick of the land, They and Safe, Constant , ow) $65 the youth that are to follow them y Hot Water Heat READY-T0 SET-UP’ after year, as all receive military tra Install a WASCO In Your Garage No waiting in the cold for a street car to come along, but quick “getting there” in your own car if you have a WASCO Heating System in your garage becaure— The One-ear WASCO burns but 5 cents’ worth of coal a day. For leas than street cat fare you can operate a WASCO. It is ing, are the progenitors of the nation’s | o pomivey sae abd ls approved by Underwekers snd Fire Commasmaens future citizens, and a halt should be | if WASCO eliminates frozen ra Hest and babe acted water evlinders end aralekis of a cold cosine end stacting device. It cuts down | called on this tampering with the na- | n BH pay fora Wasco, am UNE emPERRE Ct one Meczewup woul more ten | tion’s blood by medical faddists, in the | r © WASCO ia made for 1-to 10-car private garages. Any handy man can st op opinion of the writer. The President \ thls Sree few tours bessane ty pipes sai connections ‘ave all stasdard aad has invited criticism of policies, and yet | ‘ Sede Tersisey Open fox WittertonCemalog N 1 T know itis iidity aaa a feeling that ut vive: Ducat vist howto: bes goer saree: (ERI HELL it is not patriotic that have withheld con- sWecsdlh Ge eas Disaiones: <meta aly, Close demnation of medical disease propaga- in some territory pow open. Write for plete information regarding diferent | | | tion in the army and na a Propontion. sizes of Systems, brave man will be sacrificed because of W. A. ScCHLEIT MEG. Co., Inc. | this timidity. In our war with Spain the government was the victim of em- Syracuse, N. Y. 18 Eastwood Sta, is sis ] balmed beef merchants and medical fad dism id incompetency. In this war medical faddism has reached a_ pitch undreamed of in ‘98. Why lock the door after the horse is stolen? Lora C. Littre. Sacramento, June 24, 1917. he BILTMORE © 43rd and 44th Sts. and Madison Ave. The Centre of Social Life of the Metropolis Close to theatres and shops. The Cascades, Italian sunken gardens. Special features. Afternoon tea - Orchestra Dancing The Tropper: Wat's 1itk MATTER WITH THE BOYS NOWADAYS? THEY akE so MAKD TO CATCH e jD CAREY, PRINTER comicbookseeny