Life, 1918-05-23 · page 14 of 40
Life — May 23, 1918 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This three-panel cartoon satirizes wartime profiteering and government contracting fraud during World War I. A magician-like "Army Contractor" performs sleight-of-hand tricks, appearing to produce an "all-wool United States army overcoat" from a hat while concealing substandard materials. The visual gag depicts the contractor as a charlatan deceiving the military and soldiers about product quality. The accompanying poem "To W.W., in Haste" (author Amos R. Wells) sarcastically thanks someone—likely a government official—for accepting inflated prices, poor materials, and war profiteering while soldiers sacrifice. The satire targets the widespread scandal of contractors supplying defective equipment and uniforms to troops while enriching themselves, a documented corruption problem during WWI.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Up-to-date Magic Army Contractor: T have here some ordinary cotton. and here I have an all-wool United States army overe Cautious “ AREN'T you going away anywhere this summer?” “No. I thought as long as I had to worry about the war, I should like to do it with all the comforts of home.” “LIFE: To W. W., in Haste WE tive sive we have given you our boys, We are making your munitions by the ton, We have left our common labors, we have left our common joys, In the hope to end the menace of the Hun, We are We are giving up our pleasures by the score, and the beefsteak and the booze, ou our mone; ing double prices from our collars to our shoes, We are cutting out the cand We have done just what you asked us; ask us more lave we grumbled at the taxes? Have we grumbled at the draft? Have we grumbled at the heatless, catless days? We have flown our flags the higher, we have merely grinned and laughed, We have plodded on our patriotic ways. It is all an awful nuisance, and we wish that it was donc; It is all a most infernal, beastly bore; But we would not pause or slacken till we've licked the hateful Hun— We have given all you asked for; ask for more. We are counting on your daring, we are counting on your speed; We should like it if you were a little rash, We will back you to the limit with whatever you may need, With the men and with the labor and the cash. Won't you worry, won't you hurry, won't you tear your hair a bit? Won't you even give a wild Kooseveltian roar? We are weary of the aiming, and we want to make a hit; All we ask is that you up and ask us more. Summon workers to the shipyards with commands they must obey; Bid the preacher leave the pulpit for the plough. Heap the taxes high and higher till we can no longer pay; Call five million to the Colors, call them now Do not wait to know our wish We will follow, if you only go before. Drop the pen and seize the sabre, shout to raise the very dead! Get excited! Go the limit. ind—then—more! : we are cager to be led; Amos R. Wells. Lay Up Your Treasures is a propriety in making the baby Lil Tiere rty Bonds provide happi- ness and health for the babies of the poor Four of the babiest baby bonds, or two of the next larger size,—two hun- dred dollars in all—turned over to Lire’s Fresh Air Fund insures through all the hot summers in the years to come that a little child will be taken from the slums of the city and sent to the green fields of the country. These Fresh Air Endowments may he made in your own name or in any name you please. Just enclose a memorandum of the name and the bonds in a registered envelope, addressed to Lire’s Fresh Air Fund, 17 West Thirty-first Street, New York City. We do not insist on Liberty Bonds. wo hundred dollars in money will do as well. Lire’s Fresh Air Fund is a charity incorporated under the laws and supervision of the State of New York and entitled to accept trusts in perpetuity. YOUNG couple, speeding along the country highway, were stopped hy the justice of the peace “Ten and costs for reckless driving.” announced the justice. “Listen,” said the young man, “judge, we were on our way to have you marry us. “Twenty and costs, then!” cried the justice. than I thought you were.” “You're more reckless comicbooks Baim