Life, 1918-03-21 · page 24 of 56
Life — March 21, 1918 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon**: A conductor on a streetcar threatens two roughneck passengers to discard their cigars or be ejected. The satire mocks working-class masculinity and smoking culture—the tough-guy posturing of men who resist basic social rules. **"Our Weekly School Column"**: A satirical Q&A section asking pointed questions about WWI-era government decisions—Prohibition during wartime, the sidelining of General Leonard Wood, pacifists in military positions, and treatment of German sympathizers. These questions mock apparent contradictions and perceived mismanagement of the war effort. **"Bravado!" Dialogue**: Adam and Eve discuss approaching death with forced cheerfulness, satirizing false bravery and religious platitudes ("Don't let the Lord know you care"). **"Somewhere in France" Cartoon**: A soldier's bath is destroyed by an artillery shell. Dark humor about the absurd indignities of war. **Overall Context**: This appears to be WWI-era satire criticizing American domestic and military policy inconsistencies, class behavior, and war's realities.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“say IF YOU GUYS DON’T CHUCK THOSE CIGARS, I'LL CHUCK YER OFF, SEE?" Bravado! Our Weekly School Column DAM (as the fatal moment approaches): Eve, I con- Questions of the Day fess I’m getting terribly nervous. Nonsense! Be a sport! Don’t let the Lord know HY was Prohibition forced by Congress on the country at a time when all of our energies were needed to you care! prosecute the war? Why has Leonard Wood been relegated to oblivion? Why was a pacifist chosen for Secretary of War? For the progress of the war, is the cause of woman suf- frage an essential or a non-essential? Why were all contracts for the army, including blankets, tents, clothing, ete., kept secret and not open to competitive bidding? Why did Secretary of War Garrison resign? When a pronounced German sympathizer talks and acts like an alien enemy, why does it take so long before he is interned—if at all? And if he is taken up, and anything happens to him after- ward, why is he fed on the fat of the land? What is the total amount of property destroyed in this country by Germans since the war began? ISSIONARY: And such earnest, sincere Christians T have never seen, as our converts at Goola-goola! Deacon Butts: Oh, well, you cannot expect real Chris- SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE tians to enthuse over Christianity like untutored savages! “CONFOUND IT! THERE GOES MY BATH!”