Life, 1921-10-06 · page 31 of 33
Life — October 6, 1921 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page critiques a novel by Mrs. Porter (likely Katherine Anne Porter) that promotes white American supremacy. The satire, by Robert C. Benchley, highlights a character named Linda who advocates for large white families to counter perceived threats from "the red menace of the Bolshevik," "the yellow menace of the Jap," Black Americans, and Mexicans. Benchley's key satirical move: he compares Linda's white-supremacist rhetoric to Kaiser Wilhelm II's "Teutonic right to supremacy" ideology, which led to World War I. The implication is biting—Linda's American nativism mirrors the dangerous nationalism that devastated Europe, and promoting it will produce similarly catastrophic results. The satire suggests that Porter and media figures like William Randolph Hearst were spreading racialized fear-mongering dressed as patriotism, a common rhetorical strategy during the 1920s Red Scare and anti-immigration period.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Breath From the Pines (Continued from page 22) starts a movement to encourage the eating of cactus-plants in place of the effete salads now in vogue, and offers a stirring plea for Nature in general and exotic California plants in par- ticular. America, or rather that part of America which is white-skinned, is Mrs. Porter’s particular care. Peter, one of the fine upstanding young men of the story, writes an article which he reads aloud to Linda (you must hand it to him for keeping her quiet that long, anyway), of which the following stirring description is given by the author : “—as the theme engrossed him, .. . he saw a vision of his country threatened on one side by the red menace of the Bolshevik, on the other by the yellow menace of the Jap, and yet on another by the treachery of the Mexican and the slowly uprising might of the black man.” Mrs. Porter and Mr. Hearst ought to meet. They would just love each other, and together they could do so much more for the future peace of the world than they can by scattering their forces as now. \nd for the following bit of girlish fun, we nominate Linda for the post of Supreme High Imperial Klucker of the Ku Klux Klan: “If every home in Lilac Valley,” she says in her winsome manner, “had at least six sturdy boys and girls grow- ing up with the proper love of country and the proper realization of the white man’s right to supremacy . . . where would be the talk of the yellow peril? You see what I mean?” We certainly do see what you mean, Linda girl, and it is just what a little boy in Potsdam meant once when he wasn’t much older than you, only for “white man’s right to supremacy” he thought the books read “teutonic right to supremacy.” And everything worked out just dandy for the little boy and for his country and for the whole world. And if you are a good girl, Linda pal, and grow up to an effective womanhood (God forbid!), you and your little playmates ought to make this just the bulliest, dearest, bestest old world to live in that could be imagined. Robert C. Benchiley. A Firm Stand Needed Younc Wire: My _ husband likes your cooking, Delia, but he wants to know if you can make your toast a trifle thinner, Detta: Tell him no, ma’am, from both of us; why, if we'd be givin’ in to him now, in six months there’d be no livin’ with him. The National Parks of the nation are the wonderlands of the world. This year, more than ever before, the National Parks will appeal to nature lovers the world over. The Government and railroads are co- operating to make it possible. for more Americans to view the glories of their own country. TRAVELERS’ AB-A 2. Cheques are also co-operating by supplying travel- ers with safe and suitable travel funds. A:B-A Cheques are —universally used and accepted, and your countersignature in presence of acceptor identifies you —safe to have on the person because they cannot be used until they have been counter- signed by the original holder —safer than money and frequently more con- venient than Letters of Credit because the bearer is less dependent on banking hours —issued by banks everywhere in denomina- tions of $10, $20, $50, and $100 —compact, easy to carry, handy to use BANKERS TRUST COMPANY New York City THE WONDERLAND OF THE WORLD comicbooks.com