Life, 1918-02-07 · page 17 of 40
Life — February 7, 1918 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top cartoon:** A man (appears to be an immigrant or foreign national) requests the mayor intern him and his children, citing they're not German. The mayor refuses, noting they're American but mentions wanting "good square meals." This satirizes anti-German sentiment during WWI-era America—likely referencing internment of German-Americans or immigrants. The joke appears to be on the desperation of poverty: even facing potential internment seems preferable to hunger. **"Patriotic Foresight" article with bottom cartoon:** This mocks picture-house (cinema) owners' patriotism. The government taxed movie tickets 10%, but theaters added 33% and 20% surcharges, claiming they'd eventually donate excess profits to the government. The satire exposes this as transparent profiteering disguised as patriotism—the owners are clearly pocketing the money, not saving it. The bottom cartoon (man falling from horse) appears illustrative rather than directly connected.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“J WISH, MR. MAYOR, YOU WOULD INTERN ME AND MY CHILDREN.” “OH, NO} WE'RE AMERICANS, BUT WE THOUGHT Patriotic Foresight THe government has placed a ten per cent. tax on picture-house tickets. But the larger picture-houses have added a tax of thirty-three and one- third per cent. and twenty per cent. to their original prices. Of course, the government gets its ten per cent. now. As to the rest of the picture-house tax —what do the managers do with that? Ah!—we see through their clever little scheme, In their patriotic zeal to aid the government they are, no doubt, saving it so that if the government should need more money later on they can turn over this extra amount to it in a lump sum. They are to be complimented on their wonderful foresight—a lump sum can be used to so much greater advantage than the same amount a bit at a time! “BUT YOU ARE NOT GERMAN, ARE YOU? SQUARE MEALS,” “ STOP CRYING NOW, WILLIAM, AND I'LL LET YOU SEE THE GENTLEMAN FALL © OFF E WOULD LIKE TO GET A FEW GooD HIS HORSE”