Life, 1919-11-06 · page 22 of 36
Life — November 6, 1919 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The page satirizes optimistic predictions about adopting the League of Nations. The cartoon grid titled "What Will Happen If the League of Nations Is Adopted, According to Some Folks" depicts absurdly utopian outcomes: an impossibly massive Thanksgiving turkey, capital and labor embracing peacefully, elimination of crime and poverty, eternal coal supplies, indestructible automobiles, and even "Woodrow's Heart Will Remain Unbroken" (likely referencing President Wilson's health struggles). The satire ridicules naive idealism—the notion that international governance could solve fundamental human problems and economic scarcity. Each panel exaggerates a different hope to expose their unrealism. The League of Nations, established post-WWI, was controversial in America; this mocks both its supporters' excessive optimism and the public's unrealistic expectations about what international cooperation could achieve. The other pieces on the page ("Charade," "Muffled Interrogation") are unrelated literary content typical of Life magazine's miscellaneous offerings.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Charade GAZED aloft and watched the flakes > is falling,” said T to my friend; “Yes,” he replied, “it is too bad, I say!" My second lay all white ground, And some was in the air, tossed by the breeze; From Pole to Pole, my sccond may be found, For all mankind must have stich things as these upon the My whole, whene’er I turn my thoughts to thee, I seem to sce an ebon face that grins: A benefactor, thou! Like Charity, Thou coverest a multitude of sins. Of neat appearance, tidy, white and clean, Like Humpty-Dumpty, on a wall thou'rt seen. Answer: Whitewash Carolyn Wells. Muffled Interrogation UT in Reno, it seems, the most popular form of greeting is “Have you come for the cure?” The “cure” in this instance is divorce. Rhetori- cians style this figure of speech, whereby an unpleasant thing is re- ferred to innocuously, as a euphemism. Life, Lord Palmerston declared, would be bearable were it not for its pleas- ures. On the other hand, it would be unbearable were it not for its euphem- PARCEL POST ARRIVED TODAY. THE HE ALES * WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS IS ADOPTED, ACCORDING TO SOME FOLKS ING TURKEY we A TON OF COAL WILL LAST ALL WINTER PUNCTURES, RIM-CUTS AND BLOW-OUTS WILL BE GONE FOREVER SERVANTS WILL STAY OVER THE WEEK-END THAT HATCHED FROM THEM EN ROUTE WERE FULL GROWN AND LAYING NICELY | | | SHOES AND CLOTHING WOODROW’S HEART WILL WILL BE DELIGHTPULLY REMAIN UNBROKEN LOW-PRICED isms. Imagine daily speech deprived of these umbrellas against the deluge of impertinent queries! In such < event, we should all be just so many truth-tellers, an our jails would be filled with the resultant murderers and would-be murderers. “Have you come for the cur is really an extremely neat and delicate manner of seeking information on a potentially unpl subject Besides, it tactfully leaves untouched the Ia of a possible “relapse.”” Tr question (COLORED CHAUFFEUR (on a dark night to passenger) Excuse me. sah, would yo’ mind holding out yo’ hand? I’se gwine to turn de nex’ corner. comicbooks.comg