Life, 1919-05-01 · page 13 of 44
Life — May 1, 1919 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains post-WWI satirical commentary. The top article, "Still Millennium Lags," critiques peace negotiations following World War I, discussing concerns about Germany's potential resurgence and European reparations disputes among French, British, and Italian leaders. The main cartoon depicts two figures examining artwork, with dialogue: "I don't know anything about art, but I know what I like. Why, that's just what I always say! Ain't it strange how many ideas we have in common?" This satirizes people who lack artistic knowledge yet form confident opinions. Below, "In Either Case" humorously presents a logical paradox about League of Nations membership—worrying occurs regardless of joining or not. The final joke features characters Willis and Gillis discussing a soldier's poor war record, mocking military incompetence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
in enna 745 Still Millennium Lags HE millennium lags, but world- peace prospects are better than they get credit for being. The war not only was destructive far beyond the endurance of this brittle world, but if it had kept on another year it would apparently have developed enormous new destructive abilities. The air- plane’s powers had only begun to be developed. There were new explosives coming, and one hears of aerial tor- pedoes that could be started from Paris and clean up Berlin with a single bomb. Destruction was only in the kindergarten stage when the war stopped. And yet the war, comparatively in- nocuous as it was, came very near putting Europe out of commission. When Lord Lansdowne said, not long before it ended, that if it went on much longer it wouldn’t be worth win- ning, he came pretty near the truth. Mr. Wilson, somebody said, went over to discuss the fruits of victory, and found the victors so nearly down and out that their chief interest was in con- triving possibilities of survival. Mr. Wilson is supposed to have had a sense of duty about preserving Germany from annihilation. It ran up against the urgent anxieties of the spokesmen of the French, the British and the Italians to preserve their respective countries from collapse. All have been dreadfully hurt; all want “ full repara- tion,” and there is not nearly enough available reparation to go around, and what there is is in danger of being He: 1 pON'T KNOW ANYTHING “WHY, THAT'S JUST WHAT I AL! IDEAS WE GOT IN COMMON? In Either Case HERE is only one of two things to worry about; either we do or we do not enter the League of Nations. If we don’t, there is nothing to worry about. If we do, there is only one of two things to worry about. We either get into another war or we do not. If we do not, there is nothing to worry about. If we do, there is only one of two things to worry about. Kither we are or are not prepared for it. If we are pre- pared, there is nothing to worry about. If we are not pre- pared this next time, GOOD NIGHT! ILLIS: Did your son have a good war record? Guus: He was a rank failure. He didn’t bring back a German prisoner or a French wife. stifled at the source. One hears that ABOUT ART, BUT I KNOW WHAT I LIKE, a tenth of the standing timber in AYS SAY! AIN'T IT STRANGE HOW MANY France was destroyed in the war, but IF THE GOVERNMENT'S “CONSCIENCE FUND” HAD ITS DUE