Life — October 10, 1918 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 513 This page contains WWI-era satirical content attacking pacifism and draft resistance. The top story "War Finance" mocks the Liberty Bond and War Stamp programs through dialogue between a bond and stamp about their relative importance. The main narrative, "An Unsolved Problem," depicts a character accused of being a German spy—a common wartime paranoia theme. He admits to being a pacifist and conscientious objector, claiming he cannot confess to being German because "all my witnesses are pro-Germans." The bottom cartoon answers children's question "What were you doing in the Great War?" with figures labeled "Many of us," "More of us," "Most of us," "Almost none of us" (holding "Pacifist" sign), and "all the rest of us." This directly ridicules pacifists and draft resisters as a tiny, contemptible minority.