Life, 1918-05-30 · page 22 of 36
Life — May 30, 1918 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces about American involvement in World War I: **"His Job" (Irvy Cobb caricature):** Mocks a man of apparent importance who eagerly volunteers to help the war effort but finds excuses rejecting every practical suggestion—farm work (bad back), ammunition factory (weak constitution), administration. When finally offered a desk job as head of the speakers' bureau, he vanishes. The joke: such self-important figures talk about sacrifice but flee actual responsibility. **"A Downfall" (Edison caricature):** A brief joke about a man marrying "beneath him." **"Concerning Two Hundred Thousand Captured Americans":** Presents a German officer's boastful claim about capturing American workers, then rebuts it: Americans will prove so formidable that by the time Germans capture even half that number, they'll realize they're in a real fight. It's patriotic propaganda asserting American military superiority. The page satirizes both American self-serving reluctance to contribute and confidently challenges German military ambitions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
IRVY COBB His Job H walked briskly into headquarters. “Pardon me,” he said, “but can I do anything about this war?” “Well, what do you want to do?” “I'm beyond the draft age, but it makes me uneasy to think that the war is going on without my help. What can you suggest?” “How about working on a farm?” “Crazy about it. I love Nature in all of her varied and beautiful forms. But, alas! I have a tender back, and farming doesn’t agree with me. “They need men in the ammunition works,” “Splendid service, that; but I never was strong. My mother used to say when I was a boy that my brain was too big for my body. The fumes would knock me ovt, I am sure.” “How would you like to become the head of some department?” HISTORIC BOYS “Ah! Now you are getting warm. I do my best work evolving plans. I like to sit and create.” “ Splendid!” The man at the desk rang a bell. He said to the porter: “Here, John, is a man of gigantic intellect, who wants to stop the war by getting into it. Please take him at once into the other room and place him at the head of the speakers’ bureau. It will be his duty to listen to all of the s before they are delivered in But he spoke to the empty air. The man with the gigantic intellect had slipped under the porter’s arm and vanished. A Downfall “MaMa: did papa have to stoop over when you were married?” “What do you mean?” “Aunt Jane says he married beneath him.” “wiz” EDISON Conceming Two Hundred Thousand Captured Americans Americans are clever business people, and we shall be glad to cap- ture two hundred thousand of them and place them in our factories and machine shops, where we have Brit- ish prisoners working —A German army officer. HE United States will be glad to have the German army start out with the intention of capturing two hundred thousand Americans. By the time the Germans have accumulated one-half of the number they will be painfully aware that they have been in a fight. By the time they have got the entire number they will feel as though they had been pulled backward through a knot-hole—and the United States will have just begun to fight. comicbooksegriy