Life, 1918-09-12 · page 22 of 34
Life — September 12, 1918 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page documents **Life magazine's Baby Fund**, a charitable initiative supporting malnourished and impoverished French children following World War I. The featured letter from Leone Leroy, an American who served as a truck driver on the front lines in 1917, provides "direct testimony" to justify the fund's existence. Leroy witnessed firsthand the desperate conditions—children "in rags, underfed and lousy"—motivating his donation. The accompanying sketch shows a mother and child, illustrating the domestic poverty Life aimed to address. The photograph depicts three generations of the Guillon family with Baby 2604, a specific child sponsor program where donors supported individual infants. The satirical caption ("Mother, do you s'pose there's any use in askin' God for a doll's tea-set, or is he 'economizing,' like everyone else?") uses child-focused humor to suggest wartime scarcity affected even American children, connecting readers emotionally to the European crisis. The page concludes with donor acknowledgments—evidence of successful fundraising.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: Direct Testimony HE contributions to the Baby ‘und come from generous read- ers of Lire who have been willing to act on our statement of the needs of the children. Now we have a contribution from a reader in Ame who, as will be seen from this paragraph of the letter he sends, is giving his aid because he has known and seen some of the things we are trying to alleviate. I served six months of the as a driver of a truck in the army on the Chemin des Dames front of — Tam spe ying to make the people this community see conditions in F as T saw th with the result th: have created a ant French kids, wi will reach e of the many bal confidence that LEONE LEKOY, many 2 in rags, underfed and lousy, [turn to you because [ think it ent work churches and church people recognize the may you have undertaken and are doin Lire has received, in all, . from which we have remitted to Paris 1. © MOTHER, DO VOU S'POSE THERE'S ANY t . OK 1S HE CONOMIZEN', LIKE EVERYONE THREE GENERATIONS OF THE GUILLON PAMtLY WHOL any 2604 In behalf of the babies we gratefully acknowled, “In memory of Mary Shawhan McDowell,” Cynthiana, Ky.. No. jot See ‘of William Ross’ Adair,” Ke th Evans, . Jacksonville Mrs, Chas. R. vi Murray ri lavis Fullerton, Des Moir { Mrs, Walter Viet N : comicbooks.com