Life, 1919-09-25 · page 27 of 40
Life — September 25, 1919 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top cartoon**: An IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) orator addresses a crowd, boldly challenging any millionaire present to contradict him. This satirizes radical labor organizers of the early 20th century who made inflammatory speeches to workers. The joke mocks the orator's bravado—he's confident precisely *because* no actual millionaire would be in such a crowd. **Main article**: Praises two South African leaders—General Louis Botha (deceased) and his successor Jan Christian Smuts—as exceptional statesmen. The piece celebrates British colonial governance and notes both men fought against Britain in the Boer War but were later reconciled, making them ideal leaders for the post-WWI world. **Bottom cartoons**: Two domestic humor sketches. "Circumstantial Evidence" quips that women age. The final cartoon shows a rural man justifying remarriage: his new wife and her six daughters will help with harvest labor—reframing marriage as economic necessity rather than romance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1.W.W. Orator: AND 1 DEFY ANY MILLIONAIRE IN THIS CROWD TO CONTRADICT ME! Two Remarkable Dutchmen G ERAL LOUIS BOTHA is dead at fifty-six, and General Jan Christian Smuts will succeed him as Premier of South Africa. The way these things are done is the British way. The Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, at present Viscount Buxton, invites Gen- eral Smuts to form a new Cabinet, and General Smuts accepts. It seems a pretty good way. Any method that put Botha in charge of British South Africa, and now pro- vides Smuts to succeed him, must have merits. These two have been among the foremost men in char- acter that the Great War brought forward. The Great War did not produce them: the Boer war did that, and was aided by the remarkable policy of conciliation that the British government finally pursued. They were men trained in the school of George Washington. They fought John Bull until his legs shook under him, and he came to appreciate that these were men and leaders of men, and fit in peace to be leaders of the men they led in war. In the Great War Botha cleaned up German Southwest Africa, and went with South African troops to fight in Europe with the Allies. He and General Smuts both signed the Peace Treaty with Germany. Both were ideal- ists: both were for the League of Nations, In reputation these Dutchmen have outtopped all the representatives of all the other British dependencies. The survivor of them, General Smuts, a lawyer by training, is one of the leading Statesmen of the world. THE Present price of labor is capital punishment. eae CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE A WOMAN is never so beautiful as she used to be. eS> APa kes op —— “ WELL, JOHN, SO YOU'VE GONE AN’ GOT MARRIED AGIN! SHE AND HER SIX DARTERS'LL BE A GREAT COMFORT TO YE.” “yep! 1 WAS WORRYING A HEAP ABOUT HOW I WAS GOIN" 1’ GIT MY HARVEST IN.”