Life, 1918-04-11 · page 16 of 44
Life — April 11, 1918 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces of satire from WWI-era *Life* magazine: **"The Stolen Overcoat"** (left): A political cartoon labeled "Russia" depicting a figure in a long coat, captioned "How long can he keep it?" This appears to satirize Russia's uncertain political situation during the war, possibly referencing concerns about Russian stability or territorial claims. **"Ad Puerum"** (center): A poem mocking wartime sacrifice rhetoric, contrasting Persian luxury with patriotic austerity ("meatless, wheatless days...corn-bread for me") to satirize Americans' claimed wartime commitment. **"The Patriots"** (right): A satirical dialogue exposing war profiteering. Mr. Cohenburg boasts of making $800,000 from WWI contracts (horses, mules, wool), framing massive war profits as risky business and personal sacrifice. His evasiveness about which banks hold the cash suggests financial impropriety. The satire attacks wealthy contractors who grew rich from the war while claiming hardship. The overall message: American elites profited enormously from WWI while ordinary citizens sacrificed.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE STOLEN OVERCOAT HOW LONG CAN HE KEEP IT? Ad Puerum Horace: Book I, Ode xxxviii “Persicos odi, pucr, apparatus—” 'O Persian pomp and circumstance, O boy, for Q. H. F. To soft delights of Pullman cars and taxis | am deaf. Let meatless, wheatless days be mine until the Kaiser's canned; Corn-bread for me, and on my head a simple myrtle band. The “Movie” Emotion T i are three kinds of emotion—mental, cardiac and “ movie. The “movie” emotion is a brand-new branch of psy- chology. It is produced by intense vividness, brought about by reformed second-story artists, mamma-and-the-baby-ari being-evicted-again, the return of the lounge-lizard to the family pocketbook, the Tolstoied gambler in a sandstorm, Lydia Lingerie surprised by her husband camouflaged o'er with whiskers. “WONT CREW FORGETS CAPTALN SCIUMIDT Is ON DECK The Patriots CENE: The Cohenburg establishment, Mrs, Cohen- burg is seated in the handsome living-room, with its oil paintings on the walls, or- new grand piano, some ne nate furniture, and on her hands two new diamond ring. Enter Cohenburg, rustling a mass of papers in his hand. Conexnurc: Well, my dear, I just settled up. Mrs. Conennurc: You mean with the last war con- tracts? Conenserc: Yes. You see, this time I got in on the ground floor. I bought horses, mules and wool. My! What a risk I took! Mrs. Conensurc: How do you mean, what a risk? Couenxsusc: Well, suppose the war had stopped. I might have had those horses, mules and wool on my hands and had to sell em for what I paid for them. It makes me nervous to think of it. That's what a great many people don’t understand. They think we rob the country. But we wear ourselves out taking risks. As you know, I have been down at Washington, morning, noon and night, for weeks. I tell you I worked hard. Mrs. Conennurc: Don’t I know it! I was worried for ear you'd break down. How much did you clear this time? Couexnure (looking furtively at the door, lowering his voice and taking out the papers): Well, here it After all deductions, I cleared eight hundred thousand dollars. Not bad, ch! And the cash is in the banks. Mrs. Conennurc: What banks? Conennerc: Oh, around Mas. Conennurc: Well, take my advice and buy some comicbook