Life, 1917-10-04 · page 42 of 44
Life — October 4, 1917 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a clever **visual pun** about censorship during World War I. The main item, "From Hand to Hand," satirizes a real legal case involving *The Masses*, a radical publication that the U.S. Post Office banned from mails. Judge Learned Hand (whose actual surname is the joke's vehicle) ruled against the magazine, but the text notes the publication still circulates "from Hand to Hand"—a literal play on the judge's name. The page also critiques **compulsory vaccination** of military personnel, citing concerns (shared with allied nations) that inoculations caused more deaths than the diseases they prevented—a contemporary medical controversy. Most content comprises **period advertisements** and promotional copy for Vanity Fair magazine, promising to keep readers socially and intellectually current during wartime. The "Night Operator" illustration is Vanity Fair's mascot. The satire targets government overreach and wartime policies, using wordplay and legal irony rather than caricature.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Cape Gloves are more than smart —they’re durable. Unlike Suedes, they are dressed right-side-out and retain the vigor of the original skin, Fownes Capes are also washable, —kept fresh and sanitary with From Hand to Hand UDGE LEARNED HAND The Masses a preliminary injune- tion to restrain the Postmaster from barring it from the mails. Judge Augustus Hand denied the in- junction, and cast the paper out. The Masses may not circulate through the mails, but it passes from Hand to Hand. So far as that constitutes cir- culation, it has it ordinary soap and water. Style, comfort and war-time economy lead inevitably to Fe to the conclusion HELLO! 'Are You There? OWNE ’s all you need to know FonAR a GLOVE. More Compulsory Vaccination The following is clipped from a July issue of the Washington, D. C., Herald: “The entire War and Navy Depart- ment forces are to be vaccinated shortly. “The English have steadfastly refused to make inoculation in their army or navy compulsory, on the ground that the cure kills more men than the disease would, and they point to the large num- her of persons who die from inoculation, in both England and America. “ The inoculation is to start at the War and Navy Departments some time this week, and both men and women clerks will be vaccinated in groups.” Readers may remember that before the war started the French authorities or- dered all the nurses and hospital workers to receive the typhoid inoculation, but they threatened to strike in a body if the order was enforced. They had seen too much of the effects, The officials backed down.—Homocopathic Envoy. EARN ‘100A WEEK Send in now for amazing free book of facts about wonderful opportunities ‘open to you. Read how to become a Certified Pub- lic Accountant, Cost = Accountant, Banker, Broker, Corporate Dec: ier, Advertising, Salesand Real Estate Expert. Learnat home, ia tore ine through remarkable easy methods, State course which in- UNIVERSAL BUSINESS INSTITUTE, 67 Madison Avenue 'HESE are brisk and burn- ing times in art, in litera- ture, in music and in life, as well’as in politics and war; and Vanity Fair is doing its bit to make the times a good deal brisker and more burn- ing. It is the avant courier, the drum major among America’s forward-marching magazines, Keep Your Hosses Prepared for work by having hem well shod. There is one nail— well—which holds shoes long them tight. Not thecheapest od posal of quality but the world's at a fait price. shoer uses “Capewell™ of anentire winter of Vanity —just half the money you ill-chosen theatre ticket. Fair—all ails—it pays, In order that you may become one of America’s in- tellectual advance guards, and so keep up w the surprises and entanglements of modera | —here and now—make you this special wart Attention! Forward March! Eyes right! Salute the coupon! Tear it off, fill it out and let Vanity fi winter—keep you in step with the times. PETER J. CAREY, PRINTER © Vanity Feir FAVORITE joke of Psattichus 11 was to steal downstairs cvery Tuesday morning before the court sat down to breakfast, secure the copy of Lire, to which he was a regular sub- scriber, and then at the royal breakfast table to retail Lire’s jokes as his own. Thus he secured the reputation of be- ing the wittiest of the Ptolemics. N these days actions speak louder than Bryan. and to stop beii for One Green Read the coupon. This is the Night Operator at ANITY FAIR will help you out in skirmishes, night operations. You can’t keep up with these double- quick times without reading a double-quick magazine in which the big writers, hu- morists, and essayists are booming away on all of Life’s battlefronts. Get the Cheero Spirit—for$1 One little Green Dollar Will Bring You the Next Five Issues of Vanity Fair—and even six, if you mail the coupon prompt- ly, in double-quick time. h alll Fair for one green dollar throw away on a single VANITY FAIR The most cheerful and stimulating of all magazines. A winter of it will keep | youin touchwith the social, literary,dramaticand artistic skirmishesin Amer ican life and insure you against dullness, boredom and intellectual old age. Every Issue Contains faite, of? Niw'verk Sramauc soot make THE ARTS: Painless eric aia WUMOR: Not ih cnc pe Siogleceert vein, but the front Stinine wpe cor searaet Stieesand act 0 NUTS: snorted nats, and mad hallers SPORTS: Every rows soe SEORTSs roy brary see y Seectoaes ee es Se ; Salo “3 Essays ano aviews: Cs t reaing, and vaconven. LE SES el Pee ceed OS el 1 you long—in the ttle of iffe-to be come a Busy porte, small bore, fall in ie hind our special war. time offer—an entire winter of anit Fat Fair, DANCING: Ait varetn d ences beth ‘wild aod te TOmIchookua |