Life, 1917-11-01 · page 22 of 38
Life — November 1, 1917 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"Things That Won't Be Seen Through the Largest Telescope"** is a satirical list commenting on WWI-era politics and society. It mocks absent or invisible things: women who don't knit (wartime patriotism pressure), General von Kluck (German military leader), failed technological promises (two-cent gasoline), and implicitly criticizes political figures like La Follette (anti-war Senator). The humor lies in impossibilities—things that *don't exist* that supposedly can't be seen even through the world's most powerful telescope. **"The Agnostic"** cartoon (lower left) shows spiritualist séance performers—likely charlatans claiming to contact the dead—deceiving a client. The caption references spiritualism fraud popular in this era. **"Supreme Gotham"** celebrates New York City's supremacy through absurdist statistics: more building falls, more half-naked women, more scandal columns than other cities. It's tongue-in-cheek boasting about urban excess and chaos. All three pieces reflect early 20th-century American satirical magazine humor: topical WWI references, debunking pseudoscience, and urban social commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
716 Things That Won't Be Seen Through the Largest Telescope The world's largest telescope is being erected on Mt. Wilson, Cali- fornia.—News despatch. WOMAN who doesn't knit. Good sense in La Follette’s utter- ances. General von Kluck. The green powder that was going to make two-cent gasoline. at the Germans are fighting for. French inet that won't fall to pieces, A box of Japanese safety matches that doesn't spill matches in one’s pocket. A sample of German secret diplomacy that is either secret or diplomatic. An issue of Lire that doesn’t anger someone, The Crown Prince earning a decoration, Somebody that the Germans don’t hate. A golf player who doesn’t tell you what his score would have been if he hadn't missed those short putts. Wi N investment—a successful specu- lation. “AW! HE'S KIDDIN’ YOU, BILL—THAT AIN'T THE CROWN PRINCE” A. speculation—an_ unsuccessful in- vestment. Supreme Gotham OME people having disputed the supremacy of New York, we have taken the trouble to gather the fol- lowing statistics and facts, which speak for themselves: In New York you can fall off more high buildings and fall farther than in any other city in the world. In New York you can pa half portions, listen to 1 of music, and drink more heer in a given time, than in any town in Germany. The total number of columns of scandals and murders in the New York papers in one week, if placed end on end, would reach from the Capitol at Washington to the Albany State House. The total number of insults offered by custom house officers and conductors is four times the square root of the replies given in any other ten cities of the country. The after-dinner speakers of New York, joined hand in hand, would form a complete circle around St. Peter's Church in Rome. It has been estimated that the total number of practi- cally half-naked women walking on the avenues in New York exceeds the population of the Samoan Islands by three thousand and eighty-four. THE AGNOSTIC comicbook Seer