Life, 1923-07-05 · page 14 of 40
Life — July 5, 1923 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains an article by Robert C. Benchley advocating for mussel protection legislation passed by Indiana. The article describes how Dr. Theodore Knees, a Swiss naturalist, founded the "League for the Protection of Native Mussels on the Same Basis as Fish" in 1903 after discovering a young mother mussel hiding from predators. The **upper cartoon** humorously depicts a burglar being startled by a woman threatening to scream for help—illustrating how the article uses absurdist humor. The **lower photograph** titled "The Land of the Free" shows a littered public park after a holiday, sardonically commenting on American carelessness and environmental disrespect—contrasting with the article's plea for protecting even lowly mussels from destruction.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Justice for Mussels! By Robert C. Benchley T is with gratification that we note the action of the Indiana Legislature in passing a bill affording the same protection to mussels growing in the river’s bed as that granted to fish in the same waters. This marks the culmi- nation of years of violent agitation on the part of our soci- ety, known among mussel-fanciers as the League for the Protection of Native Mus: on the Same Basis as Fish. The league was founded in October, 1903, by the Reverend Theodore Knees of Basle, Switzerland. Dr. Knees, being a full-blooded Swiss, naturally never saw a mussel until he came to this country in 1903 on a pleasure- trip with a friend of his wife’s, That was in August. One day while in wading (Dr. Knees was only sixty-one and very spry for his age) the famous naturalist ste what turned out to be a young mother mussel who was hiding from the dogs on top of a submerged rock, “What is this?” the doctor said, among other things. “What is what?” said his guide, for the doctor was still under water. “What is this mussel?” answered Dr, Knees, “Is it a mussel ?” “A mussel,” explained his friend, “It is a kind of crustacean. Lift it off the rock and you will see that it is practically expressionless, This is Nature’s way of pro- teeting the mussel against its enemies, for, you see, they can never tell what the mussel is thinking.” The Swiss naturalist turned to his companion at these words, and uttered the phrase which has since been adopted as the slogan of the league: ‘God willing, I shall live to see the day when these helpless mussels will be protected from hunters and their dogs and, Deo volente, I may be able to lend my small assistance to the further- ance of the cause which, D, v., will bear its fruits in my life-time.” And sure enough, from that day forward Dr. Knees Frightened Burglar: if YE SO MUCH AS LAYS A FINGER ON ME, MUM, ILL SCREAM FOR HELP! put every ounce of energy that he had into the work of mussel protection, He waded up and down the whole length of the river compiling statistics which showed, among other things, that: 1, Eight hundred thousand mussels die every year from fright. 2. After a mussel leaves its mother and before it is old enough to shift for itself in the hurly-burly of crustacean existence, it is absolutely without resources and open to at- tack from every quarter. This period of helplessness lasts until its first horns appear, and a (Continied on page 33) in 9.8 cases out [eos THE LAND OF THE FREE ANY PUBLIC PARK THE MORNING AFTER A HOLIDAY comicbooks.com