Life, 1917-10-11 · page 4 of 40
Life — October 11, 1917 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **subscription advertisement for Life magazine**, not a political cartoon. The page promotes subscribing to Life instead of purchasing Liberty Loan bonds. The illustration shows a caricatured figure (likely representing the average American) juggling both "Liberty" and "Loan" documents while running, visually representing the competing financial demands on readers. The text urges readers to **prioritize Liberty Loan bonds** over Life subscriptions, framing bond purchases as patriotic duty supporting the U.S. Army and Navy against Germany. The ad emphasizes that while Life subscriptions will remain available, the opportunity to support Liberty Loans "comes so seldom." This appears to be **WWI-era propaganda**, when the U.S. government aggressively promoted war bonds. The irony—Life magazine asking readers *not* to subscribe—serves as clever reverse-psychology marketing while demonstrating patriotic deference to government financing needs.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Before you subscribe to Lire this week make your subscription to the Liberty Loan. Disregard the sordid coupon in the corner. Lirg can wait. You will eventually become a subscriber to Lire anyway. But the opportunity to become a subscriber to the Liberty Loan comes so seldom. Obey that impulse! A Subscription to the Liberty Loan Does All This to You: Makes you a genuine stock-holder in the United States Government Satisfies your sense of duty and patriotism. Helps you to save Helps to lick 5 Provides directly for our boys at the front 7 But in addition to all these things, it is a necessity. You must. You've got to. Your own personal freedom, the 7 welfare and happiness of those dependent upon you, 7 the freedom of your country—these things are 7 all actually at stake, and require that you 4 stand back of our Army and Navy. 7 Buying all the Liberty Bonds you can will be the best investment 7 you ever made. 7 7 ——— — = 7 Open only to new subscribers; no subscrip: i tions renewed at this rate. a8 if LIFE, 17 West 31st Street, New York " 7 7 One Year, $5.00. (Canadian, $5.52 ; Foreign, $6.04.) ¢ ‘many 7 comicbooks