Life, 1919-02-20 · page 26 of 34
Life — February 20, 1919 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Section - "Foch's Cigar":** This satirizes the Peace Conference (likely post-WWI, around 1919). The text humorously imagines future historical accounts attributing symbolic meanings to mundane actions by world leaders: Marshal Foch's cigar recalls General Grant; Lloyd George's perspiration suggests the "Village Blacksmith"; Poincaré's stumble echoes the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill"; Orlando's sneeze recalls Lewis Carroll. The satire mocks both contemporary journalism's tendency to over-interpret leaders' actions and the Peace Conference's slow progress—if it "runs on long enough," historians will find deep meaning in trivial details. **Bottom Section - "The Biograph: General John J. Pershing":** A biographical tribute in verse to the WWI general, cataloging his military accomplishments: Apache campaigns, Philippine service, Mexican pursuit of Pancho Villa, and leading American forces in the Great War. The humorous rhyming verse (by Arthur Guiterman) celebrates Pershing as America's great military organizer. **Right Cartoon - "The New Switchboard Operator":** Appears to satirize inefficiency or incompetence in a government office (note "Switchboard" labeling).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“i, LEE * Foch’s Cigar Marshal Foch was puffing a large cigar as he arrived, sug- gestive of General Grant.—dAssociated Press Dispatch frou Paris. ND if the contemporary historian will but do his duty, and the Peace Conference runs on long enough, we may pick up paper one morning to learn that When Premier Lloyd George reached the council chamber he was perspiring freely, suggestive of the Village Blacksmith Or: President Poincare tripped as he reached the top landin of the Foreign Office steps to-day, and in falling was pai fully bruised, quaintly recalling the fate of Jack, the com. panion of Jill, in “ Mother Goose.” Or: Premier Orlando, who is recovering from an_attac influenza, was observed to sneeze upon checking his in the lobby, reminding many of Lewis Carroll's immortal lines: Speak roughly to your little boy, And spank him when he sneezes; He only does it to annoy se he knows it teases Or President Wilson, it has hecome known. has three times declined the honorary presidency of the French Society for the Establishment of Permanent Peace. This is suggc of Julius C The lives of great men cannot too often remind us 0 THE OPERATION WAS SUCCESSFUL something. The Biograph GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING NAME uncouth to rhyme upon Is that of Pershing (christened John”). Our Gallant Army’s Organizer, He taught the Game of “Swat the Kaiser” With that of “Cut and Come Again” To more than Twice a Million Men. In Youth he kept the wild Apaches From lifting People’s Hirsute Thatches, And later led the Horse i In Cuba and the Philippines. He governed palmy Mindanao, Where roams the gentle Carabao, And made the Moros toe the Mark Till all was safe as Central Park. Where blows the delicate Tortilla, Through Mexico he hunted Villa, But let him go till by and by, Because of Bigger Fish to fry His Deeds in Print would fill an Acre; And learnéd Secretary Baker Avows that he has done as well In stemming Hordes as Charles Martel. Arthur Guiterman, THE NEW SWITCHBOARD OPERATOR _