Life — October 17, 1918 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "I See America Marching" This is a patriotic poem by Clement Wood celebrating American industrial and geographic power during what appears to be the World War I era. The verse invokes the Statue of Liberty and catalogs America's natural resources—wheat, cotton, iron, steel—and geographic features—mountains, rivers, lakes—as forces "marching" toward victory. The accompanying illustrations show domestic scenes: military personnel and civilians in discussion, and a woman in an interior setting. These appear designed to reinforce the poem's message of unified national mobilization, showing both military and civilian commitment to the war effort. The text emphasizes America as a unified continental force, with natural resources and geographic grandeur supporting military strength. It's patriotic propaganda dressed as poetry.