Life, 1918-07-18 · page 21 of 36
Life — July 18, 1918 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"The Truce"** uses Civil War veterans to comment on reconciliation. Two former enemies—one Union ("blue," Gettysburg), one Confederate ("rebel gray")—held a 50-year grudge. Now their grandsons fight together in World War I (France and the Somme), suggesting shared sacrifice has healed sectional wounds. The satire is gentle: old animosities become irrelevant when facing a common enemy. **"This Is War"** is sharper political satire. A wealthy businessman (labeled "Head of Firm") wants to *borrow* lunch money from an office boy, yet keeps war profits in a "red-hot safe." The king's caption warns him to carry these profits constantly—the joke being that war profiteers accumulate such enormous wealth so quickly they risk losing it. This mocks both corporate greed and the absurdity of employers exploiting workers while accumulating fortunes from wartime contracts. The caricatures at top appear to represent different nationalities (Turkey, Bulgaria, Prussia, and "Karl"), likely Allied/Central Power stereotypes, though their specific meaning is unclear without additional context.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- PRUSSIA He, PeAST The Truce WORE the blue at Gettysburg ; Tom fought in rebel gray. We didn’t speak for fifty years, Though he lived across the way. And when the veteran G. A. R. Hobbled across the square Old Tom would draw his curtains tight And fume in his wheel-chair. But now I ride behind the band In the veterans’ car with Tom, His grandson flies a ‘plane in France— Mine sleeps nearby the Somme. Owen B, Winters, This Is War EAD OF FIRM (who has paid all his taxes; to stenographer): 7 Where's the office boy? / Stele Stenocraruer: Gone for the day. “How unfortunate! I wanted to His Majesty: We've BEEN GETTING READY YOR YOU. YOUR PROFITS FROM horrow some money from him to buy THE WAR ARF IN THAT RED-HOT SAFE, YOU'D BETTER JUST CARRY IT AROUND my luncheon.” WITH YOU FROM NOW ON, comicbooks.com