Someday Mein Prince Will Come

"Rough Going" by Grover Page in Louisville Courier-Journal, Nov. 6, 1923

Turning our attention to foreign affairs in November, 1923, we find Germany in danger of splintering apart. A separatist movement in the Rhineland was actively supported by a vindictively hostile France (to the horror of its erstwhile Entente allies). There were Monarchists in Bavaria loyal to Crown Prince Rupprecht, and Socialists in Saxony inspired by Vladimir Lenin.

"The Prodigal's Return" by Grover Page in Louisville Courier-Journal, Nov. 5, 1923

Roiling the Liebfraumilch further, Crown Prince Friedrich, the son of ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II, returned from exile, although his visa was for a Christmas visit only. 

"Life Iss Choost Vun Ting After Anuder" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn, ca. Nov. 26, 1923

German President Ebert fired General Otto von Lossow as commander of the Reichswehr in Bavaria only to have Lossow reappointed by Bavarian dictator Dr. Gustav von Kahr.

in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, Nov. 4

Then came the Beer Hall Putsch.

Staatskommissar von Kahr was giving a speech denouncing Marxism at the Bürgerbräu Keller in Munich when General Erich von Ludendorff and an Austrian named Adolph Hitler burst in and took over the bar. Hitler declared himself ruler of Bavaria and Chancellor of Germany.

"Die Gefahren der Münchener Bräuskeller" by Oskar Garvens in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, Nov. 18, 1923

Oskar Garvens's cartoon here recalls the socialist Mathäser beerhall putsch of 1918 (also in Munich), and suggests a royalist coup in the not distant future.

"Kicking His Dog Around" by Tom Foley in Minneapolis Star, Nov. 14, 1923

The Bürgerbräu putsch was soon put down — by that same General Lossow whom President Ebert had tried to dismiss. Hitler and Ludendorff were arrested and charged with high treason; Hitler would serve nine months in jail, but Ludendorff was acquitted of all charges.

"The Distress Signal" by Roy James in St. Louis Star, Nov. 10, 1923

I may easily have missed another, but James's "The Distress Signal" is the earliest U.S. editorial cartoon I have come across in which Hitler himself makes an appearance. He showed up in earlier German cartoons of course, and there are earlier American cartoons about Nazism. But if another American cartoonist drew him before this one, I haven't seen it.

"Ein Trost" by Oskar Garvens in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, Nov. 11, 1923

We shall use this Garvens cartoon, in which Uncle Sam towers over representatives of France, Japan, Russia, Italy, and an especially diminutive Great Britain, to pivot to a couple other events of note around the world in November.

"My Way Works Better" by Rollin Kirby in New York World, ca. Nov. 13, 1923

The Republic of Turkey was declared on October 29, 1923, bringing the Ottoman Empire to its official end. Field Marshall Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was already President of the Assembly, Cabinet, and Popular Party, was named President of the new Republic, without opposition. 

"The Multiple Dictator" by Ernest H. Shepard in Punch, London, Nov. 7, 1923

E.H. Shepard's take on the multitasking President borrows a stanza from "The Yarn of the Nancy Bell" by W.S. Gilbert — ironically, a poem originally rejected by Shepard's publisher because its subject was cannibalism at sea.

"Sittin' Pretty" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. Nov. 1, 1923

I still see the occasional flurry of visits to this blog from students studying Philippine history, so here are a couple cartoons updating that topic.

A quarter century after the Spanish-American War, the Philippines remained a territory of the United States of America. Retired Major General Leonard Wood, a good friend of Teddy Roosevelt in the day and credible Republican presidential contender in 1920, was appointed Governor General of Philippines by Warren Harding in 1921.

His was a contentious governorship; he vetoed 16 actions of the Filipino legislature in his first year in office. His reinstating of a fired American police detective in Manila provoked Wood's entire cabinet to resign in July, 1923. His policy aimed at selling publicly owned railroads and agricultural operations to U.S. capitalists, was in stark contrast with the policies of his Democratic predecessor.

"Stay With It, Leonard" by Wm. Morris for George Matthew Adams Service, ca. Nov. 9, 1923

I believe, however, that these cartoons concern the Moro rebels on Mindanao and Sulu, an Islamic minority not effectively represented in either the American administration or the Filipino legislature of the time. (I find contemporary newspaper reports in the U.S. referring to the Moro rebels as "pagans," a generic term likely used to describe anything and everything outside of Judeo-Christian religion.) Wood had some experience there as the U.S. Governor of Moro Province from 1903 to 1906.

An Associated Press report of November 26, 1923 charged the Moro uprising was a symptom of generalized Filipino disagreement of General Wood, and perhaps an excuse given by the General and the Coolidge administration to ignore the Philippine legislature's request that Wood be recalled home.

"One defense of the present policy in the Philippines is that the trouble in the islands is all religious, that the Moros will not consent to being governed by Christian governors. ... The fact is, during the World War when American troops were practically withdrawn, and when [Francis] Harrison was Governor General, there was very little in the Philippines that could be twisted into resembling a religious war. But every policy must have its argument in justification."

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Before I sign off: lest one forget on this Veterans' Day:

"Lest You Forget" by Tom Foley in Minneapolis Star, Nov. 10, 1923

"No War for Him, Let's Hope" by Bob Satterfield for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. Nov. 10, 1923

But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, generation by generation.