Life, 1918-01-03 · page 17 of 40
Life — January 3, 1918 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The page contains two separate satirical pieces: **"Those Superfluous Letters"** critiques American business culture's excessive formal correspondence. The accompanying cartoon shows a chaotic office scene with the caption "Shall we join the ladies?"—likely satirizing the disconnect between ornate business letters (filled with "Dear sirs," "Yours truly") and actual workplace reality. The piece argues this letter-writing epidemic reflects a "national disease." **"For Non-Resistants"** addresses pacifism and passive obedience, likely written during or after World War I (references to German masses as "cannon fodder" and the Bolshevik Revolution suggest this era). The author argues that while violence is wrong, complete non-resistance becomes ineffective—comparing it to water that stops sinking at a certain point. The piece suggests that some resistance to tyranny is justified, undercutting pure pacifist ideology. Both pieces use satire to critique contemporary American attitudes toward communication and political response.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Those Superfluous Letters HF. national association of credit men has undertaken a campaign to climinate unnecessary letters. That is a good work. There are probably more unnecessary letters written in the United States every day than ever before in the history of the world. Think of the extraordinary multitude of “Dear sirs” and “Yours trulys” that are wandering about the country! Think of the superfluous expressions of gratitude, of the thankings-in-advance, of the hereby-acknowledgments and the in-reply-to-yourses ! And think of the tons and tons of letters filed solemnly away in fireproof cases, silently waiting their millionth to see the light of day again! It is absurd, however, to dignify this sort of thing as letter-writing. In reality it is only a strong symptom of a national disease For Non-Resistants TION of non-resistants is called to the sugges- TT tion that it is the submissive people who are most to blame for the troubles that now beset the earth. Tf the German masses had not been so tragically obedient, their masters could not have used them by the million for canonen futter in a bad cause. If the Russian masses had had proper, self-respecting spunk the Bolsheviki could not have led so many of them by the nose. Truculence and tyranny are folly; oppression recoils; revenge is futile; love is a far greater power than force: Nevertheless, just as there is a point where cooling water no longer sinks, so there seems to he a point where non- resistance no longer washes. comicbooks.com