Life, 1918-11-07 · page 22 of 36
Life — November 7, 1918 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains WWI-era American anti-German propaganda disguised as humor. **"New Invention"**: A satirical piece mocking Germans as inherently lacking honor. It presents a fictional "machine" that electrocutes Germans into developing morality and patriotism—implying Germans are so fundamentally deficient they require mechanical intervention. The dark joke: any German will do since "no German has a sense of honor." The punchline is that after treatment, Germans can work in American munitions factories, "making the world safe for democracy"—referencing President Wilson's WWI justification. **"A Disturbing Word"**: A brief anecdote where a sergeant watching propaganda footage of "Huns advancing" becomes so emotionally inflamed he shouts "Fire!" at the screen, unable to distinguish fiction from reality. Both segments deploy dehumanization of Germans as wartime rhetoric. The humor depends on readers accepting grotesque stereotypes about German national character as factual premises worthy of mockery.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“SON, WHAT DO YOU RECKON AILS OLD PRINCE?” “WILY, HE WANTS TO TAKE OFF HIS HAT, OF COURSE.” New Invention TEP up, ladies and gentlemen, and sce the greatest in- vention of the age—a machine for introducing a sense of honor into a German This great feat has hitherto been thought impossibl has now been rendered comparatively easy by the genius of an American, . Demonstration every hour. Any German will do, as no German has a sense of honor. Place him firmly in the steel chair, strap him down and fasten the appliance on his head. Turn on the current slowly. Within a few moments a sheepish smile will come over his face, as he begins to realize himself, and he will then exclaim “Gott in Himmel! I sce myself as others sec me. hell mit de Kaiser und all his beastly atrocities. Now [1 gin to have real sporting feelings, and be on der level After this give the machine one more turn, and he will then be ready to work in an American munition factory, thus helping to make the world safe for democracy. HE HOSTESS: So many people have disappointed me to-night. Castteton (whose mind is on thrift): Don't you care! Why, youtcan live for a week on what's left over. A Disturbing Word UMMER: I hear our sergeant got into trouble at the Palace. Kromer: Yes. He was looking at a moving picture of a mass of Huns advancing on a silent, waiting American battery, and rose up in his seat and shouted “ Fire!” “ WOUNDED AND MISSING" comicbooks.com