Life, 1919-03-06 · page 28 of 42
Life — March 6, 1919 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes post-WWI American anxieties through multiple pieces: **"Famous Abdications"** lists abstract concepts (John Barleycorn, Mrs. Grundy, Monroe Doctrine) as if they've resigned—likely mocking how traditional values seemed abandoned after WWI. **The weather forecast** is darkly comic: predicting a "dry spell" (Prohibition) with "protests" but little relief—satirizing the futility of opposing Prohibition's passage in 1919. **The equestrian portrait** appears to mock a military commander (labeled "After an Unknown Artist"), likely satirizing General Pershing or military leadership broadly. **"Soldiers' Letters"** criticizes mail service failures to troops in France—soldiers supposedly needed frequent letters for morale, yet masses of letters remain undelivered months after arrival. The accompanying dialogue about "Applejack" and Prohibition is a tangential joke. The overall tone is cynical about the post-war period: institutional failure, social prohibition, and disconnected leadership.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
376 Famous Abdications yous BARLEYCORN Mrs. Grundy The Will of the People Silence The Monroe Doctrine Kultur The Sacredness of Human Life LIFE’S Almanac Veather Vorccast for 1919) April, May, June—Rathe wet in some sections of the coun- anied by strong, indignation, growing me ntense, as a iry season is ex- rected after Jul July, August, September, October, November, December — A continued spell. Very little precipitation, except in those states which were more r less wet up to July. A rain of rotests is predicted, but, from present ndications, probably will do little cowards relieving the bone-dry_ situa- ton then to be so prevalent all over ¢ United States. Yet it is hoped that us shower will distribute enough moisture of reason to sprout a reaction } will in time overcome the dry Wet and Dry M RALIST ¢ you jaying some- thing away for a rainy day? ton your life! T have some- 7 ome LIFE’S GALLERY OF OLD MASTERS. V, § COMMANDER OF A. E. F. (AFTER AN UNKNOWN ARTIST Soldiers’ Letters ashingion.—Fa: clatives and friends ne to hear from many members of the expedition neral Pershing to order that merican army in France mail to his nearest relative a postcard giving the present loca tion, state of health and military unit of the writer N the assumption that the mail service between Franc and America is as efficient as that between here France, the people of this country may sit back and enje the prospect of old age made happy by the receipt of pos cards from the boys in France. Meanwhile they may ams: themselves hy the following mental gymnastics : “On our entry into the war, we were cautioned that vic tory was directly dependent on morale, and warned that the May Gorilla: you NEVER HAD THIS DELICIOUS BEVERAGY Maintenance of a sound morale depended on the boys’ WHEN YOU LIVED IN EDEN, MY DEAR EVE, receipt of frequent letters from home. There are now in “No, 11'S ‘APPLEJACK, AND THE PROHIBITION PARTY WAS France masses of undelivered letters, many of which were THEN IN POWER, YOU REMEMBER.” written as long ago as last summer.