Life, 1917-11-01 · page 7 of 38
Life — November 1, 1917 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Cartoon:** Shows an editor informing someone that they've sent a "podunk poetess" two checks totaling $4.60, with a colleague suggesting they stop payments because "she has almost enough now to pay her fare to New York." **The Satire:** This mocks aspirational rural writers—small-town female poets seeking literary success in New York City. The dismissive term "podunk poetess" (podunk = a small, insignificant town) ridicules both the writer's humble origins and presumed limited talent. The joke hinges on the editor's cynicism: they've accidentally funded this woman's ambition to relocate to the literary capital, which they apparently view as undesirable. **Social Context:** Reflects early 20th-century class attitudes toward provincial Americans and gatekeeping in literary publishing circles.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Editor: DOLLARS AND SIXTY CENTS, 1 BELIEVE! “YES, sR” LET'S SEE—WE HAVE SENT THAT PODUNK POETESS TWO CHECKS, TOTALLING FOUR “WELL, DON'T SEND HER ANY MORE. SHE HAS ALMOST ENOUGH NOW TO PAY HER FARE TO NEW YoRK.” be men who do not get along outside of universities. Some university presidents are bullies and drive good men out of their faculties, just as some bishops are bullies and drive ability out of their dioceses. But usually presidents of considerable universities are able men, who want the ablest men procurable in their faculties, and know how to get along with them even when they are cranky. Trustees are very much more fallible. They are usually lawyers, bankers, clergymen or business men, and not edu- cators nor well versed in the etiquette of education. Per- haps they are a necessary evil. Universities have to be connected in some way with revenue, and as between trus- tees and state legislatures, faculties will usually prefer trustees. It may be trying to have trustees essay to deter- mine what is truth and may be taught, but to have poli- ticians do it is hell. R: Can I get a drink of water here? German Orricer: Poisoned or plain? Two Business Failures THE head of a department in a big business concern must produce the goods or get out. Otherwise the concern fails. Two department heads in one of the biggest business concerns in the world—a concern in which every man, woman and child in the United States is vitally inter- ested—have fallen down on the job in a most lamentable manner. The concern is the United States Army. The two department heads are the Quartermaster General and the Chief of Ordnance. They, and they alone, are respon- sible for the clothing, the ordnance and the equipment needed by our armies; and at every cantonment in the United States there was, at the beginning of the second week in October, a staggering shortage of clothing, of ordnance and of equipment. Our soldiers lack blankets, overcoats, blouses, trousers and guns. They are drilling with broomsticks and wearing any old clothing that comes to hand. comicbooks.com