Life, 1918-05-09 · page 19 of 40
Life — May 9, 1918 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This *Life* magazine page contains two distinct editorial pieces from WWI era (likely 1918, given references to submarine warfare and the draft). **The Cartoon:** Shows a Prussian military figure confronting an Irish priest. The caption reads "I'D RATHER BE DIRTY THAN USE THAT"—a satirical jab at Irish Catholic clergy allegedly opposing the American war effort and the draft. **The Political Context:** The editorial attacks Roman Catholic priests in Ireland for allegedly helping Germany by resisting conscription and the Allied cause. It contrasts American Catholics' support for the war against Irish and French-Canadian Catholic resistance. The author warns that if Catholic leaders undermine the Allied war effort, they damage the Church's post-war credibility as a "regulating force." **The Satire's Point:** By pairing the Prussian with the priest, Life suggests Irish Catholic opposition to the draft aligns them with America's enemy—a serious accusation questioning their patriotism during wartime. The piece conflates religious authority with potential disloyalty.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Irussian: no longer a torpid West. Honest peo- ple who wished that we might keep out of the war have become converted ; politic people who still, possibly, hold that view, no longer venture to disclose it, and pro-Germans sing extremely small and buy Liberty Bonds for self- insurance. The pacifist: word-spouts are plugged, Sinn-Feiners meet in pri- vate, and obstructors of the draft and hinderers of war measures stand trial et eS yeti 5 HINGS seem to be going pretty ines, well in the war against subr that we see nothing of and hear so little such vital concern. bout, but which, after all, is of There have been SD RATHER BE DIRTY THAN USE THAT quiet rumors from time to time that the U-boats’ measure had been taken, and that in a few months they would shrink into a secondary danger, not to be neglected, but no longer formidable That condition may be approaching. What effect the gallant British intru- sion at Zeebrugge will have is not yet apparent, but it didn’t help the U-boats any, and it may have embarrassed them considerably There are reports that the Germans have got out some long distance boats that are good for ten thousand miles, and will send them over here, but just now, at any rate, sinkings are low, and the depth homb, the detector, and the chasers and destroyers seem to be on the job to excellent purpose. It was charged against William Edenborn of Louisiana, a rich, natural 759 ized German, who was arrested a fort- night ago for seditious behavior, that he had disparaged the talk of Germany coming over here to attack the United States, and had said we need have no fear of that because America is sur- rounded by water. The new subma- rines that we hear of may do it ina small but, in’ main, what Mr. Edenborn was quoted as saying w simple sense, and current facts sup- port it. way, if id suidts Chermany$ convenience es HAT do Roman Catholics in the United States think of the activit of the Roman Catholic clergy in Irc- land against the draft? Roman Catholics in these States are loyally and heartily for the war, and have as good a record as anybody. So it is in England. Not so in French Canada, in Italy, in Ireland, and (they say) in Australia—all Ally countrie The future of the Roman Catholic Church as one of the great regulating forces in the world after the war is a subject that thoughtful people are con- stantly turning over in their minds. Where it does well in the war, it is noted, and the same where it does ill. If it can be used in Ireland and French Canada to help the Germans and hurt the great cause of liberty and civiliza tion, it cannot help but make men ask towards which side Rome leans in the Bavarian Catholics must fight Austrian Catholics must Rome cannot And_ per- war. for rermany ; with their country that if it would. has no political influence in Ireland and Quebec! All the same, to have Catholic bishops and priests leaders in an Irish outbreak against Great Britain and the Allies at this present grievous pinch gives a bad impression which the great body of American Catholics cannot but de- plore. Ireland is making a record. If the mass of Irish Catholics, under the leadership of priests and bishops, take hold to cripple England now, they turn against the whole body of the Allies, x0 help haps it including the country whose influence more valuable to them the and favor is other in world, nor their clerical leaders can escape an accounting for it. and at neither they any comicbooks.com