So Where Was I?

In last Saturday's cavalcade of cartoons about kiddies in May 1922, I left off with this one, which I have assumed in spite of the lack of a signature, to be the work of Charles H. "Bill" Sykes, the daily editorial cartoonist at the Philadelphia Evening Ledger.

"Whoa, Bill" by Charles "Bill" Sykes in Philadelphia Evening Ledger, May 24, 1922

So we start off today's thrilling episode with a discussion of whether or not the Harding administration would recognize the communist government of Russia five years after the Revolution. (Whether the Russian Civil War was over yet depends whom you ask.)

While it was a minority opinion, Senator William Borah (R-ID) wasn't the only one urging the U.S. to recognize Lenin's government in Moscow. Cartoonists who saw commercial opportunity in trade with Russia even before its trade agreement with Germany hammered out at Rapallo included Winsor McCay (which set him apart from the hardline isolationists at Hearst's Star Publishing) plus a smattering of leftists such as Callaghan.

"What If It Isn't a 'Vacuum'" by Michael Callaghan in Minneapolis Daily Star, May 5, 1922 

The Harding administration line, however, was that Soviet Russia was, in Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes's words in a letter to Samuel Gompers, "an economic vacuum."

"He'll Have to Quiet Down" by Charles Kuhn in Indianapolis News, May 19, 1922

Most Americans wanted nothing to do with communists, anarchists, or any of the other hot-headed bombers of recent memory, economic vacuum or not. As illustrated by Callaghan, however, Europeans had other considerations to weigh.

"The End of the Rainbow" by Ted Brown in Chicago Daily News, by May 23, 1922

Prime Minister David Lloyd George was very interested in reintegrating Russia into the European community. Four commissions were set up at Genoa to figure out how to lend Russia money to aid its recovery from the German invasion, the communist revolution, and its Civil War.

But Russia was deep in debt to other European countries, primarily France and Belgium, which demanded restitution for properties confiscated by the Bolsheviks. Ted Brown's cartoon sums up the communiqué spelling out the Genoa Convention's terms for Russian aid, which was rejected by Lenin's government as insulting and "stupid."

"Adding Fuel to the Fire" by Gustavo Bronstrup in San Francisco Chronicle, May 9, 1922

Further complicating matters, the issue of Russian oil loomed as large in European consideration then as it has in light of Putin's invasion of Ukraine 100 years later. 

"Traces of Oil" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 18, 1922

I get tired of editorial cartoons that portray some issue as a question mark; it's like journalism's hackneyed cliché (is there any other kind?) of concluding, "Time will tell." But I'll give Nelson Harding's cartoon a pass, because the oil slick reference works better than most.

"The Spree Befire the Headache" by Winsor McCay for Star Company, ca. May 13, 1922

The Genoa Conference continued to unravel. At France's insistence, Germany was booted out of the Genoa negotiations on account of Germany's separate peace deal with Russia. By mid-May, the French delegates announced, seconded by Poland and Romania, that there was no point in continuing negotiations at all.

"Not to Be Entrapped Again" by Harry Murphy for Star Company, ca. May 15, 1922

So France withdrew from the conference, followed by Belgium. The conference collapsed on May 19.

And the stage was set for the next big war.