Life, 1918-12-26 · page 25 of 35
Life — December 26, 1918 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features a single-panel cartoon satirizing post-World War I real estate speculation. A "Conscientious Objector" (likely a wealthy businessman seeking to purchase property) asks a real estate agent for a name for his new piece of land. The agent sarcastically suggests calling it "No Man's Land"—a direct reference to the devastated, corpse-filled terrain between opposing trenches during WWI. The joke's bitter edge: the agent equates commercial real estate with the war's most horrific landscape, implying the objector's conscience about warfare doesn't extend to profiting from peace. The cartoon criticizes how quickly wartime trauma becomes forgotten in pursuit of financial gain. The page also includes Life's Christmas Fund donations list—money for French war orphans—contextualizing the cartoon's ironic contrast between charitable giving and callous commercialism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
il i a i iY [i Rube LY ous Objector: 1 SUPPOSE WE OUGHT TO GIVE THIS NEW PLACE OF MINE A NAME? The Real Estate Agent: wuy Not CALL 17 “NO MAN'S LAND"? NU Mrs. J. Stair, Jr, Yorktown, Va BABY: NUMBER IA! Mrs, Jobe ted Lioyd, Cincinnati, ate J. H. S., A. E. F., F . 5 Mrs. A. B. Riggs, Battle Creek, Sarah J. Russell, Dobbs Ferry, N : MORE MONEY FOR THE CHRISTMAS F Filen & Haughton, Northampton, Mass. In memory of Little Boy, Blue, Bremer Lire wouldn't have started its Christmas Fund so carly Mr ia TL ratte, § rance wasn't so far away. The result is that the Fund Ht. EH, Hal . < completed last week, but, in spite of that, tardy but G¢0, Hl Caufield aeisGresor. des scerous-hearted contributors are still sending in their help Mrs, EC. Wright, Newark, Obio + the war orphans’ Christmas. The surplus will go either 0 provide gifts for next Christmas or to aid orphans whose Heels Be Lee «lis still great. The final disposition will depend on fiarter Wright, elk vices we shall receive from the Society in Paris, In any John Hartley. U. ¢, contributors may be sure that their gifts will add to WSEAS eR hoe, 5 joy or relieve the misery of a French child orphaned Miss, Lillian PL Fiske, Brook! ; eee Middletown Chapter of American Red Cross, Middletowr the war. Lire is happy to acknowledge the receipt for petceeteeses : P Portiand, Ore. $s purpose Irom M: ai D. Nels -. Mt i kegon Woman's Cy M tine Briscoe Knox, Frederick, Md. ty B. ‘ : R., Pasadena, Cal. ss, Pete rita, rk Citys Lillian ‘Mark ‘iyrom, Mercersburg, Pa Mrs. Gordon R. Campbell, Laurium, Mish 1, L.S., Cumberland, Md sone dpne, Waibingto E aster Marvin Chadbourne Schurman, {Cuiginnati, Obio. fs ty, Bokanan, ‘Rath, Hohanar Frazee, Katherine “a i es ee oe Sanh Haley, V: Ball, Hele: MacGregor Jean Gat and : * Hel Bald: 5 Daven Min RK. Gibbs, Philadelphia, Pa, inces Danson, Anne ‘Allen Danso plendate, Ohio, Already acknowledged comicbooks.com