War Declared; Hilarity Ensues

This is kind of a Scattershotback Saturday post of 100-year-old cartoons today. Let's start with the serious stuff: Boardman Robinson illustrates suffragettes in front of the White House protesting President Woodrow Wilson's opposition to women's suffrage. Between June and November 1917, 218 protesters from 26 states were arrested and charged with "obstructing sidewalk traffic" outside the White House gates. The banner in the cartoon directly quotes a banner carried by one of the arrested women.

"Kaiser Wilson" by Boardman Robinson in The Masses, October, 1917

The German press seized upon England's arrest and imprisonment of British politician Edmund Morel, a leader of the antiwar Union of Democratic Control. He was convicted of violating the Defence of the Realm Act by sending a UDC pamphlet to a friend in Switzerland. Simplicissimus cartoonist Olaf Gulbransson here compares Morel's fate to that of French Socialist Jean Jaurès, who was actively working to head off World War I when he was assassinated on July 31, 1914 by a French nationalist.

"Der Geist Jaurès'" by Olav Gulbransson in Simplicissimus, Munich, October 16, 1917

Morel served six months in Pentonville Prison, which was six months longer than any punishment  Jaurès's assassin ever received (although the assassin eventually met a rather ignominious end in Spain during its civil war).

If the cartoons of the day are to be believed, Germany had high hopes for a peace settlement proposed by Pope Benedict XV. The proposal included freedom for Belgium, Poland and Armenia, restoration of Alsace-Lorraine to France and Italian-speaking areas of Austria's empire to Italy, and negotiations for the status of Balkan states — essentially wiping out any of the Central Powers' military gains. Since England, France and the U.S. refused to negotiate with the existing governments of the Central Powers, however, Germans were pleased to be able to blame the continuation of the war on the Entente powers.

"Englands Antwort auf die Papstnote" by Thomas Theodor Heine in Simplicissimus, Munich, October 16, 1917

But turning to the lighter side: as terribly, soul-crushingly awful as the Great War was, cartoonists were still able to find nuggets of humor amidst the death and devastation. This French cartoon depicts that country's warm welcome to the freshly arriving American troops.

"Spirit of Conquest" by Maurice Radiguet in Le Rire, Paris, September or October, 1917

Mademoiselle from Armentières had quite the reputation at home, as well as the one that quickly spread abroad. Do you suppose this could be the earliest appearance of cabbage patch kids, mon petit chou?

"Jardins de Guerre" by Adolphe Willette in La Baïonette, Paris, May 24, 1917

For American cartoonists, further removed from the front than their French counterparts, it was easier to make light of the war. Keeping things light was better for morale, after all.

"Hey, Mister," by R. B. Fuller in Cartoons Magazine, Chicago, October, 1917

The war made its presence felt on newspapers' comics pages in a way unparalleled in the century since. Certainly many adventure strips during World War II had their heroes fighting Nazis and "Japs," but American comic strips of the 1910's were almost exclusively of the humorous variety. Not every comic strip was suited to wartime boosterism, but it was hardly a stretch to have "Bobby Make-Believe" imagining himself battling the Huns. Other comic children put on shows or collected rags to raise funds for the troops, or engaged in other darling displays of patriotism.

"Freckles and His Friends" by Merrill Blosser for NEA, December 31, 1917

Among adult comic strip characters, even chinless Andy Gump answered the call to arms (only to be rejected as physically unfit). In Walter Allman's domestic comic strip "Doings of the Duffs," one of the Duff family members, Wilbur, was conscripted into the service.

"Doings of the Duffs" by Walter Allman, NEA, October 9, 1917

Wilbur Duff was not alone among comic characters to serve his country in the Great War, yet you don't find the denizens of Funky Winkerbean, Luann, or Dilbert volunteering to ship overseas nowadays. Racking my brain to come up with any modern comic strip characters who have gone to war, I can only think of Doonesbury, a few of whose characters who have served in Vietnam or Iraq. Of course, there's Beetle Bailey, but he has never left the relative comfort of Camp Swampy, wherever that is. (Is someone still drawing Sad Sack these days?)

If there is any cartoon that demonstrates how startling the realistic portrayal of Bill Mauldin's Willie and Joe would be to the next generation of American cartoon readers, it's got to be this drawing for the cover of the Newspaper Enterprise Association's monthly bulletin to its subscribing editors, Pep.

Cover illustration by DeAlton Valentine for Pep, NEA, Cleveland, Ohio, September, 1917

Which is not to say that there was not more realistic humor about the war, but as with Sgt. Bill Mauldin in World War II, it came from cartoonists with first-hand knowledge of life in the field. By far the most famous was the British cartoonist Bruce Bairnsfather. Having been promoted to the rank of Captain in the British Army before being hospitalized with shellshock and hearing loss at Ypres in 1915, Bairnsfather drew the exploits and travails of soldiers he named Old Bill, Bert and Alf for the humor weekly The Bystander.

"A Miner Success" by Bruce Bairnsfather in The Bystander, London, July, 1917

Bairnsfather garnered considerable fame despite initial protest from civilian readers to his "vulgar caricature" of the troops. His best-known cartoon, in which Old Bill counsels the soldier complaining about the miserable foxhole they share, "Well, if you knows of a better 'ole, go to it," has been borrowed as the basis for countless cartoons since. But if Old Bill could be fairly wise, Bert and Alf were not necessarily the brightest bulbs in the trench.

"A Carriage Full of Bairnsfathers" by E.T. Reed in The Bystander, London, August, 1917

Well, that's enough World War I for a while. Log in again next week for some more recent history.

The First Casualty of War

Censorback Saturday today notes the centennial of the Espionage Act of 1917. The House passed President Wilson's bill on May 4, 1917, and the Senate followed suit on May 14. It would be challenged in court, and ultimately was upheld in a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court in Schenk v. United States in 1919. It has become the foundation of every law seeking to limit freedom of the press ever since.

"The Light That Must Not Fail" by Harry Murphy for Chicago Examiner, May 5, 1917

On its face, most of the law would only be in effect during wartime. The Espionage Act made it a crime to convey information with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies; to promote the success of its enemies when the United States is at war; to cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States; or to willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States.  The Act also gave the Postmaster General authority to impound publications that he determined to be in violation of the Act.

"That Wooden One" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 5, 1917

A number of publishers and cartoonists recognized the threat posed to a free press. William Hearst published an almost daily torrent of editorials — some of them taking up an entire page — such as this excerpt:

President Wilson, who has been right in so many things of late, is singularly wrong in his advocacy of this bill to suppress free speech and free publication.
He says that he can be trusted not to misuse the extraordinary powers which this bill confers. Possibly he can be so trusted, but why should any American President desire to see the provisions of the American Constitution violated in order to secure despotic powers which are essentially unAmerican as well as unconstitutional?

"Transplanting the Czar" by Oscar Cesare in New York Evening Post, May 4, 1917

Why should an American President, even though he might be as great as any American President we have ever had, desire to set an example in autocracy, and create a precedent which would surely be abused by some less able or less loyal chief executive elected at some future period?

100 years later, we have a permanent state of war, and a congenital liar as our greatly less able, less loyal chief executive who openly advocates punishment for anyone in the media who dares to contradict him (and a Justice Department that has prosecuted and convicted a woman for laughing at the Attorney General)... but I digress.

"All Ready to Fight of Liberty" by Boardman Robinson in The Masses, June, 1917

The socialist monthly The Masses likewise warned against the proposed censorship rules, and with good reason. The magazine would be prosecuted and put out of business for its antiwar articles and even an Art Young cartoon. (In case it's difficult to see on your screen, Uncle Sam is handcuffed by "censorship" in Boardman Robinson's cartoon above.)

The Masses is throwing all its weight against militarism and nationalistic prejudice. It is attempting to minimize the effect on public opinion of a press dominated by military expediency and patriotic emotionalism. It is trying to think clearly and tell the truth without patriotic hatred and without patriotic sentimentality.
Ours is a difficult task.

"The Prisoner" by George Bellows in The Masses, July, 1917; earlier in The Blast.

Others, however, were perfectly willing to grant the government whatever power it might wish to have to lock up any perceived threat to the nation. Suspicion of hyphenated-Americans was not about to go away any time soon.

"Jail Them" by Sidney Greene in New York Evening Telegram, May 4, 1917

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By the way, I see that Mark Green, Trump's second nominee for Secretary of the Army and the subject of the cartoon I posted here on Thursday, withdrew his name from consideration on Friday. I guess I don't know my own strength.

We're On Our Way to War

"Pipe Dream" by Wm. C. Morris in Independent, March 19, 1917

SafeForDemocracyback Saturday has been keeping a sharp eye on events of 100 years ago, so here we ago again to the very last days before the United States entered World War I.

By this point, America's editorial cartoonists were gung-ho to go. With the exposure of the Zimmerman Telegram, Kaiser Wilhelm dreams of turning the southwestern United States over to Mexico and Japan in William Morris's cartoon above. Uncle Sam hops over the "Canadian Boundary Fence" which I suppose the Canadians would actually have had to to pay for.

Meanwhile, Harry Keys depicts any opponents of the war, such as Wisconsin Progressive Senator "Fighting Bob" LaFollette, as prized properties of the Kaiser. Former Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan is strangely missing from the collection.

"Berlin's New Hall of Fame" by Harry Keys in Columbus Citizen, March 11, 1917

At the Philadelphia Inquirer,  which added "Support Our President" to its flag on top of page 1, cartoonist Fred Morgan drew daily exhortations to muster support for the war. You may recall that when he thought Wilson had lost his bid for reelection, Morgan excitedly drew four celebratory cartoons for the next day's paper. In spite of the Inquirer's new motto, Morgan's pro-war cartoons this week drew on national symbols; Mr. Wilson did not make an appearance in them.

"Under Which Flag" by Fred Morgan in Philadelphia Inquirer, March 25, 1917

And the jingoism just kept coming. Morris, by the way, was another Republican cartoonist.

"For Humanity" by Wm. C. Morris in Independent, April 2, 1917

Democratic partisan Sidney Greene went to the trouble to remind naturalized citizens of the country that he expected them to be all-American, through and through. And by naturalized citizens, I'm sure he meant German immigrants, although he doesn't go so far as to dress the guy in lederhosen.

"Warned" by Sidney Greene in New York Evening Telegram,  March 25, 1917

The Chicago Tribune had been all in for the belligerent Teddy Roosevelt and his klaxon call for preparedness in the previous year's election campaign. Yet this front page cartoon by Carey Orr hints at some misgivings about War, even as Uncle Sam cleans out his rifle.

"The Bogy Month" by Carey Orr in Chicago Tribune,  March 23, 1917

For genuine anti-war sentiment, you had to pick up a copy of The Masses. I recognize Randolph Hearst personifying "Conservative Press" (even though he had been accused of pro-German sympathies) and Teddy Roosevelt, labeled — in quotation marks — "'Americanism.'" "Big Business" may be J.P. Morgan, but I'm pretty sure that "Ignorance" is not Gomez Addams.

"Patrons of War" by Boardman Robinson in The Masses, May, 1917

Turning to views from abroad, this French cartoonist welcomed the U.S. to the fray, but not without gently ribbing the new ally over President Woodrow Wilson's many notes sent to Kaiser Wilhelm to complain about all those ships sunk since the beginning of the war.

"A New Kind of Message" by French cartoonist in Ruy Blas, Paris, March, 1917

I wish I had a better scan of this Louis Raemaekers cartoon welcoming Uncle Sam to the fight; a lot of the detail and shading has been lost. I do try to repair some of the damage sustained by these cartoons in transit from paper to wire service to newsprint to microfilm to digital scanner, but I doubt I could fix this one without going all Borja Ecce Homo on it. In spite of the lousy reproduction here, Raemaekers's point still comes through.

"It May Happen" by Louis Raemaekers, in De Telegraaf,Amsterdam, March, 1917

This Canadian cartoonist was hardly the only one to imagine President Wilson shopping for the "latest spring styles."

"To-Day's Hero" by Lawrence (?) in Montreal Daily Mail, March 29, 1917

If Englishman Edward Reed caricatured an American accent in the dialogue of this cartoon, as was his wont, the American editors of The Independent opted not to retain it.

"The Eleventh Hour Recruit" by Edward T. Reed in Passing Show, London, March, 1917

Reed's war may have been a jolly good romp at first glance, but don't miss the warning on the door.

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

As we step back one century again for Seekriegback Saturday, we are entering a momentous month in world history.

"The Homing Pigeon" by William "Jack" Farr in New York Evening Herald, January 28, 1917

When last we checked in, proposals to bring World War I to an end were shriveling up like the leaves of a Christmas poinsettia. The U.S. wanted a return to the status quo ante, plus a League of Nations to replace the complicated web of alliances that had obliged one European nation after another to declare war on the others for reasons that had nothing to do with the assassination of an Austro-Hungarian archduke. Germany wanted instead to ratify its gains on the battlefield, while the Entente of Russia, France and Great Britain preferred to punish Germany for its belligerence.

"The World's Two Great Comedians" by Lluis Bagaria for El Sol, Madrid, January, 1917

Since talk of peace was going nowhere, the German government declared "unrestricted submarine warfare" on February 1, 1917: a resumption of its U-boat blockade of Great Britain. The Kaiser warned that ships from any country, including neutral nations, would be attacked and sunk without warning anywhere within hundreds of miles of the British and French coasts.

"Well, Count, We Did Our Best" by W. A. Rogers in New York World, February, 1917

The British had a naval blockade of Germany, too, which as we've shown before, rankled those Americans who wished only to have transatlantic commerce and communications continue unimpeded regardless of European hostilities. The operative difference to U.S. public opinion now was that the Entente powers had not sunk any ships with Americans on them, operating under what were called prize or cruiser rules. Under these rules, British forces would board ships and place their crews in "a place of safety" before sinking the ship, unless the ship displayed "a persistent refusal to stop."

"The Last Straw" by Robert W. "Sat" Satterfield in Cleveland News, Ohio, February, 1917

As John Darling notes below, the German announcement was made with the full realization that the U.S. would be brought into the war because of it.

"Nobody But Himself to Blame" by Jay N. "Ding" Darling in New York Tribune, February, 1917

Europe's war had been raging at a stalemate for over two years, but, save for some very old veterans of the Civil War, Americans' only experience with war was of the relatively quick and easy victory over Spain twenty years earlier.

"And When It Falls 'Twill Fall on Him" by William Hanny in St. Joseph News Press, February 2, 1917

Even at Hearst's newspapers, resistance against the move toward war was waning. Here's Harry Murphy's cartoon on the day unrestricted submarine warfare was announced...

"I Feel Safer on My Own Side" by Harry Murphy in Chicago Examiner, February 1, 1917

...and five days later, as ships were being dispatched to Davy Jones's locker:

"I Want Real Preparedness" by Harry Murphy in Chicago Examiner, February 6, 1917

From this point on, jingoism fills the inkwells of nearly every cartoonist in America. The only ones still advocating against U.S. entry into the war were the socialists at The Masses.

"Peace Only with Honor" by Boardman Robinson in The Masses, February, 1917