Life, 1918-06-27 · page 13 of 37
Life — June 27, 1918 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two editorial cartoons labeled "Historic Boys": **Left cartoon**: Depicts a caricatured figure (labeled "That Mischievous Trotsky Boy") sitting with bubbles containing "Utopia," "Altruism," and "Peace," while holding "Socialism Soft Soap" and making "German Pledges." This satirizes Leon Trotsky, the Soviet revolutionary, mocking his idealistic promises as empty propaganda—comparing socialism to soap that won't deliver real results. **Right cartoon**: Shows "Johnnie Burroughs" (likely a fictional character representing youthful naiveté) surrounded by birds and nature. The accompanying poem "Give Us the News!" urges honest reporting about war casualties and military losses, rejecting censorship or sugar-coated accounts. Together, these pieces critique both communist ideology and wartime information control, advocating for truthful journalism during what appears to be World War I-era publication.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
German Pledges HISTORIC BOYS THAT MISCHIEVOUS TROTZKY BOY JOHNNIE BURROUGHS Give Us the News! us the news, whatsoever may happen, - IVE Glorious triumph or gloom of defeat; Dare not, presume not with heartstrings to meddle, Thinking to temper the tension and beat. Give us the news! Give us the news of the boys who have left us; Hold not the worst from the gaze of our eyes. Think you that we who have sired them that battle Lack for the strength from disaster to rise? Give us the news! Give us the news of our fighters, our children; Tell us the whole, nor from sorrow refrain. Think you that we who have borne them that suffer Know not the way to be valiant in pain? Give us the news! Give us the news whatsoever may happen, Victory joyful or loss in the fray; WHEN WILL THE ASS SPEAK? Keep not the cup the Almighty has poured us. “ And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she God is the censor—stand out of the way said unto Balaam, What have | done unto thee that Give us the news! thou hast smitten me?" McLandburgh Wilson, comicbooks.com