Life, 1918-04-11 · page 5 of 44
Life — April 11, 1918 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **WWI-era propaganda advertisement**, not satirical content. It's an appeal from Prudential Insurance Company urging Americans to buy Third Liberty Loan bonds to support the war effort. The illustration shows a massive crowd of soldiers holding signs labeled "LIBERTY BONDS," marching toward victory (indicated by the American flag and "to victory" sign). The text shames domestic civilians for their "little inconveniences" while soldiers endure trench warfare in France—mud, cold, hunger, and constant artillery bombardment. It argues that home front sacrifices (buying bonds) pale compared to soldiers' suffering, and appeals to patriotic duty: "Are we any less ready?" The closing quote ("A Prudential Policy is an Ally that Never Breaks Faith") uses patriotic language to associate insurance-buying with supporting the troops.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Weravce © your own little inconveniences loom so large that you have forgotten our boys in the trenches in France—our boys who are facing so cheerily the danger and desolation of No Man’s Land? They are living in mud-trampled trenches, sleeping in mouldy straw. They are cold and wet. In spite of the best supply system, they must sometimes go hungry. Day in and day out they move and eat and sleep and wake to the living hell of an artillery bombardment that never ceases. And always they face undauntedly a million chances of death. How do your sacrifices compare with theirs? Are they not too small, too petty, by comparison to merit such consider- ation? We at home are at war too. We must all make sacrifices, meet daily inconveniences, that America may win and win quickly. We know that our soldiers in France will never fail to answer the call to service. Are we any less ready? The call has sounded. Your share in the Third Liberty Loan must be all the bonds you can buy. Upon the united support of the whole American people hangs the question of Victory. “A Prudential Policy is an Ally that Never Breaks Faith.” Orutential Tusurance Zompany of America Incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey FORREST F. DRYDEN, President Home Office, Newark, N. J. comicbooks.com