Life — June 23, 1921 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Consortium": A Political Fable This satirical fable depicts various national figures as animals negotiating over a Chinese Dragon's corpse. The Lion (Britain), Eagle (America), Cock (France), Russian Bear, and Fox represent competing imperial powers seeking advantage from China's weakness during the early 20th century. The "consortium" refers to the international power-sharing agreements that Western nations and Russia used to exploit Chinese resources and territory. Each animal argues self-interested reasons for keeping the Dragon's "door open"—a reference to the Open Door Policy—while actually seeking economic dominance. The moral, delivered by Oliver Herford, satirizes how these powers hypocritically justify colonial exploitation as mutual benefit, when each nation primarily serves its own financial interests at China's expense.