Awakening the Spirit of Locarno

Our Graphical History Tour, as is so often its wont (where there’s a will, there’s a wont), journeys back a century ago to check up on international developments, this time in the late fall.

"Prins Locarno en Sneeuwwitje" by Louis Raemaekers in De Telegraff, Amsterdam, Nov. 21, 1925

The major European powers reached a peacekeeping agreement at Locarno, Switzerland. A series of treaties were initialed in mid-October, 1925 for official signature on December 1.

"Got Him Going" by Arthur G. Racey in Montreal Star, Nov. 28, 1925

Not everyone was involved in the Locarno conference, however. Racey depicts Russia and the U.S. peering over the fence while Mr. Globehead punches War in the nose. Racey has helpfully written Great Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, and Italy on Mr. Globehead's pate.

It must be pointed out that the conference was strictly among countries of western Europe. No eastern European countries were invited; nor were any nations of Asia, Africa, or the Americas.

"The Real Treaty of Peace" by Wm. A. Rogers in Washington Post, Oct./Nov., 1925

The view from the U.S. was nevertheless hopeful. W.A. Rogers tended to be skeptical of international agreements, so one could perhaps interpret this cartoon to suggest the possibility that the Locarno agreement might fall short of a "real treaty of peace"; he seats Poland at the table even though Poland was not represented at the conference.

You may recall where World War II was started.

"Inside the Breakwater" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Nov. 29, 1925

Nelson Harding's cartoon acknowledged that the agreement would not bring an end to war, but believed that it would keep war from European shores.

"Hier Stehe Ich" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, Nov. 8, 1925

Arthur Johnson meant the above cartoon, drawn sometime around Reformation Day, depicting German Chancellor Hans Luther quoting Martin Luther, as a rebuke of the warlike inclinations of Germany's rivals. The armored knights on the right side of the cartoon include British negotiator Austen Chamberlain and French representative Aristide Briande, while the monk behind Hans/Martin Luther bears resemblance to German delegate Gustav Stresemann.

"Mussolini Furioso" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, Nov. 22, 1925

I do not recognize a representative of Italy in Johnson's November 8 cartoon. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini gets the starring role in his cover cartoon of November 22 after Il Duce gave a speech in Rome glorifying war at what was supposed to be a celebration of the Locarno accords.

I may not have translated the last word of the caption, “Gottstrammbach,” accurately. Literally “God tight stream,” the best I’ve been able to determine is that it’s some sort of colloquialism in Saxony.

"De Aanslag op Mussolini" by Leendert Jordaan in de Notenkraker, Nov. 14, 1925

Speaking of Signore Mussolini: Tito Zaniboni, a former Socialist deputy, was arrested on November 4 for plotting to assassinate Mussolini during a planned public speech. Mussolini seized upon the plot — he may even have engineered it himself — as an excuse to consolidate power and imprison political rivals.

"The True Status of Benito" by "O. Zim" Zimmerman in Daily Worker, Chicago, Nov. 27, 1925

The communists at the Daily Worker labored under the misapprehension that Mussolini was somehow held by the chains of banker J.P. Morgan. This surely would have come as a surprise to Mussolini himself.

"She Had So Many Children She Didn't Know What to Do" by Edward G. McCandish in Washington Post, Oct. 31, 1925

Getting back to the prospects for world peace: Edward McCandish outlined the international disputes outside the Locarno accords' purview. Spain continued their suppression of the Riffian revolt in Morocco. French forces, while also helping put down the Riffian revolt, were forcibly quelling the Hama uprising against French rule in Syria. And Bulgarian soldiers crossed into Greece in "The War of the Stray Dog," a brief skirmish in October allegedly sparked when a Greek soldier chasing a dog across the countries' border was shot and killed.

"This Ought to Be Easy to Settle" by John Knott in Dallas News, Oct./Nov., 1925

The errant sentry and a captain were killed before the Bulgarians withdrew. Greece demanded an apology and reparations, and mobilized its military to occupy the Bulgarian border town of Petrich to enforce its demands.

"Premature" by Rollin Kirby in New York Evening World, Oct./Nov., 1925

The League of Nations stepped in and quickly resolved the conflict between Bulgaria and Greece, which Rollin Kirby* held up as proof to the doubting "Irreconcilables" in Congress that the League could act, and act decisively.

Bulgaria issued an apology for its soldiers' actions and agreed to pay compensation to the first two Greek soldiers' families. The League of Nations made Greece pay Bulgaria to compensate for the occupation of and civilian death toll in Petrich.

"Something Else Again" by Wm. Sykes in Philadelphia Public Ledger, Oct./Nov. 1925

As for Franco-Syrian hostilities, France would quash the Hama uprising by late November, capturing its leaders and bombarding Damascus from air and ground, resulting in large-scale destruction and a death toll in the thousands. Occasional guerilla attacks by the Syrians continued for the next two years, but without achieving independence.

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* Tour Guide's Note: My source credited the "Premature" cartoon to Bill Sykes, I believe incorrectly. I find no signature on the cartoon, either because it is missing or cropped out, but the style, and the copyright line included in the original source indicate to me that Rollin Kirby was the probable cartoonist.

War Is Over There, If You Want It

Last week's Graphical History Tour focused on the election of Paul von Hindenburg to the German presidency in 1925, which set some editorial cartoonists worrying about the possibility of a return to World War I.

"Still Abroad" by W.A. Rogers in Washington Post, May 5, 1925

There was plenty to worry about other than German politics, as it happened. Not the least of which was countries in Europe and North Africa inexplicably moving around willy-nilly underneath Mars's feet.

"The Soft Spot" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. Apr. 29, 1925

Let's start with trouble in the Balkans, in which, for the moment, Bulgaria had the starring role.

Bulgaria, a.k.a. the Balkan Prussia, had been racked with violence between the far right and far left in the years following World War I. Assassinations were almost commonplace: Tsar Boris III had narrowly escaped death in April; and two days later, a bomb killed 150 members of the Bulgarian political and military elite in Sofia as they attended the funeral of murdered General Kosia Gheorhieffe. Reportedly, Gheorhieffe had been assassinated with the expectation that the Tsar would be at his funeral, too.

"Spring in the Balkans" by Daniel Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 25, 1925

The right-wing Bulgarian government of Prime Minister Aleksandar Tsankov responded with a curfew and mass arrests of known and suspected communists, and accused the Soviet government of Russia of being behind the plot.

"To Sustain the body of Capitalism" by O.R. "O. Zim" Zimmerman in Daily Worker, Chicago, May 1, 1925

It should be noted that Tsankov had come to power in 1923 after a coup against his predecessor, Aleksandar Stamboliyski of the leftist Bulgarian Agricultural National Union. Stamboliyski wasn't just overthrown; he was tortured, killed and dismembered — and not necessarily in that order.

"Zim" Zimmerman at the Communist Daily Worker in Chicago drew a skeletal Fascist government of Bulgaria enjoying a refreshing glass of workingman's blood while a bloody hand of imperialism threatened to grab a handful of angry workers.

"The Chief Occupation of Socialists" by O.R. "O. Zim" Zimmerman in Daily Worker, Chicago, May 15, 1925

The Berbers of the Rif region of northern Morocco, led by Abd El-Krim, had been fighting a guerilla war against Spain since 1921. Rif was nominally a Spanish protectorate, dating from when Europeans parceled out chunks of Africa to each other in the 1880's, although Riffians had effectively resisted Spanish rule from the beginning. Riffians, however, saw none of the benefits of Spanish mining in their mountains, while providing most of the labor and suffering all of the environmental damage.

"The Riffians and the Ruffians" by Daniel Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 13, 1925

The Riffian guerrilla tactics won early successes, but Spain resorted to chemical warfare (as alluded to in Zimmerman's cartoon) as well as the first amphibious landing of armored tanks. Then France, a "protector" of other parts of Morocco, joined the war on the side of Spain. Franco-Spanish forces launched a final offensive against Abd El-Krim's vastly outnumbered forces on May 8.

Objection to the Franco-Spanish military action was led by Mussolini's fascist government in Italy. Not because he was standing up for Moroccan sovereignty, but because he insisted on Italy getting some of the spoils.

Turning now to the Pacific:

"Improving the Landscape" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, May 11, 1925

After joint war games of the U.S. Army and Navy at Hawaii in May, the Chair of the House Naval Affairs Committee, Rep. Thomas Butler (R-PA), advocated turning the island chain into "the strongest military outpost in the world."

"I have always contended that Hawaii should be made our Helgoland in the Pacific," Butler announced, "east of which no enemy national would dare to come without first capturing it. I am prepared to vote to establish the greatest air base on Earth at Pearl Harbor."

"Scaring the Little Fellow in the Pacific" by Ed LeCocq in Des Moines Register, May 2, 1925

The New York Herald Tribune, in approving Rep. Butler's proposal, averred, "Under ordinary conditions, there would be little danger of an attack on Hawaii, since the attacking fleet would have to reckon, in the first instance, with the American fleet covering our coasts in the military sense, but far from them, perhaps in reality. ... But for the purposes of a base used either offensively or defensively, Pearl Harbor must be brought up to the mark."

At the time, access to Pearl Harbor was hampered by a narrow inlet at low tide. Ships had to wait outside the harbor for high tide, and ships within the harbor had to wait for one another for their turn to set sail. According to reporter Arthur Sears Henning (May 6, 1925), 

"When the American fleet reached Honolulu at the conclusion of the recent war games the destroyers, cruisers and lesser craft found anchorage at Pearl Harbor, but the battleships were compelled to anchor in the open ocean off the reef."

Addressing Senators and reporters invited to Hawaii to witness the war games, Admiral John D. McDonald thundered, 

"Turn and look yonder to the ocean. See those ships out there where they don't belong? That isn't their place — their place is in Pearl Harbor! They're not in Pearl Harbor, and the reason they're not in Pearl Harbor is because they can't get in. ...  If you want to find out whether or not they belong out there in the open water, just ask the captain of any one of those ships."

According to an Associated Press report on May 10, the Army-Navy assessment of the war games concluded that "the defenses of the island of Oahu cannot be relied upon to protect the Pearl Harbor base from an enemy investment in the event of such a surprise attack in force as was simulated in the maneuvers."

"Hula, Hula" by Homer Stinson in Dayton Daily News, May 18, 1925

Stinson may have had Rep. Thomas Butler confused with Sen. William Butler (R-MA), in office for only a few months to fill out the term of deceased Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge, and not, as far as I have been able to determine, one of the senators who got to go to Hawaii for the Army-Navy war games. 

Be that as it was, the Departments of the Army and Navy estimated the cost to bring Pearl Harbor "up to the mark" at $40 million (over $730 million adjusted for inflation today). Their proposal included upgrades to the base's military barracks, communications systems, and gun emplacements.

"Picturesque Hawaii, as the Militarists See It" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 23, 1925

Well, no spoilers here about how Pearl Harbor fared when the war games got real. Tune in again next week, when we promise more pleasant diversions.

How about a trip to the zoo to visit family?

Making the World Safe for Autocracy

John McCutcheon's cartoon at the end of last Saturday's Graphical History Tour alluded to a "dictatorship bug" from Europe, so this week's episode takes a look at what was bugging Europe in September of 1923.

"Will the Cop Let Him Get Away with It" by Sam Armstrong in Tacoma News-Tribune, Sept. 6, 1923

Corfu is a narrow, 40-mile (64 km) long island due west of the Greek-Albanian border. The two countries disputed where their border should extend, and took their case to a council of British, French, and Italian ambassadors, chaired by an Italian general, Enrico Tellini.

Greece accused Tellini of siding with Albania, so the Greeks were the suspected culprits when Tellini and four others traveling with him were ambushed and killed at a Greek-Albanian border crossing on August 27. Italy responded by bombarding and occupying the island on August 31, arresting the Greek prefect of the island. Mussolini announced that Corfu had belonged to Venice for four centuries before being ceded to Napoleonic France, then to Great Britain, and to Greece only since 1864.

"Another Successful Operation" by Keith Temple in New Orleans Times-Picayune, ca. Sept. 28, 1923

While much of  Europe was focused on the Corfu crisis, Yugoslavia was preoccupied by Bulgarian guerilla attacks in Macedonia. The Bulgarians wanted to reclaim territory lost to Serbia at the end of World War I (Bulgaria having sided with the Central Powers during the war).

Bulgarian communists reportedly tried taking advantage of the situation, attempting, but failing, to overthrow the government. Prime Minister Aleksandar Tsankov, who had just come to power through a coup in June, declared martial law, and there was some thought that the crisis may have been fabricated in order to justify the move.

"No Wonder He's Getting Tired" by John McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, Sept. 14, 1923

On September 14, Spanish military officers staged a coup in Barcelona. King Alfonso XIII accepted the resignation of the cabinet of Prime Minister Manuel García Prieto and asked coup leader Captain Miguel Primo Rivera to form a new government. 

"The Passing Show" by Gustavo Bronstrup in San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 15, 1923

Primo Rivera's military dictatorship would last through the rest of the decade.

In Germany, Chancellor Gustav Stresemann called off his citizens' passive resistance to French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr; but France vowed to continue the occupation until German reparations were paid in full. Given the worthlessness of the Deutschmark, full payment of reparations any time soon was highly improbable.

"From the Frying Pan Into the Fire" by Winsor McCay for New York American, ca. Sept. 22, 1923

American editorial cartoons of this period expressed much more sympathy for the plight of former enemy Germany and growing hostility toward former ally France.

"Divided They Fall" by Elmer Bushnell for Central Press Assn., before Oct. 4, 1923

At the end of September, monarchist separatists in Bavaria and the Rhineland rebelled against the German government with plans to crown Crown Prince Rupprecht king.

But that gets us into October, and I'm not quite done with September yet.

"Poor Butterfly" by O.C. Chopin in San Francisco Examiner, Sept. 4, 1923

Not all disasters were man-made — at least, to begin with. An earthquake registering 7.9 on the Richter scale devastated Tokyo and Yokahama on September 1, 1923. The quake hit just before noon local time as many were cooking their meals, sparking massive firestorms and a fire whirl that incinerated a crowd sheltering in a department store. The death and destruction were compounded by landslides and a tsunami. The death toll surpassed 105,000 (including the American Consul General in Yokahama and his wife).

But man was responsible for making the disaster even worse. Sparked by rumors that resident Koreans in the Kantō region had poisoned local well water, the Japanese military, police, and vigilantes —condoned by some within the government — slaughtered an estimated 6,000 people that day. The victims of the Kantō Massacre were mainly ethnic Koreans, as well as Chinese and Japanese people mistaken to be Korean, plus Japanese communists, socialists, and anarchists.

"There's My Old Neighbor" by Clifford Berryman in Washington Sunday Star, Sept. 2, 1923

Since today happens to be Independence Day in Mexico, I can't let the day go by without mentioning normalizing of relations between that country and mine. Great Britain, France, Belgium and Cuba quickly followed suit in recognizing the Obregón government.

At home, President Álvaro Obregón was derided as un entreguista (a sellout, literally "delivery man") for agreeing to U.S. demands to renounce his country's intention to expropriate foreign oil companies in Mexican territory. A subsequent rebellion led by Obregón's former Finance Minister, Adolfo de la Huerta, would be harshly put down within months.

The Looming French Menace

Our Graphical History Tour of 1923 this month turns to foreign affairs and finds Monsieur LePoilu looming over a terrified John Bull. Could it be 1066 all over again?

"Looming Across the Channel" by Harry Murphy for Star Company, ca. March 29, 1923

Well, of course not.

"Völker Europas, Wahrt Eure Heiligsten Güter" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, March 18, 1923

Unless you were looking at things from a German point of view. (By the way, that little dude pointing at the crazed French soldier is the Kladderadatsch magazine's mascot.)

Occupation by France and Belgium of Germany's Ruhr Valley provoked their erstwhile Entente ally Great Britain to suspend diplomatic relations with Paris. The Harding administration expressed disapproval, but declined to get involved.

Resistance (passive and otherwise) by the Germans under France's heel proved to be a considerable nuisance. French soldiers shot and killed a number of German railroad saboteurs in the month of March, and the government of Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré threatened action against Krupp Aktiengesellschaft and other German corporations for cheering on the resistance.

"Plenty of Advice from a Safe Distance" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, March 13, 1923

Cheerleaders on the other side of the fence include Krupp and mining and media mogul Hugo Stinnes (soon to buy Kladderadatsch). The character calling out from the gate in the distance is Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno, whose government encouraged resistance by the citizenry.

"Seeing Himself in the Boss' Clothes" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, March 29, 1923

Moving across the channel but sticking with "Ding" for the moment, the political establishment in Great Britain was coming to grips with the possibility of a government led by the Labour Party. The decline in the fortunes of the Liberal Party left the more socialist Labourites as the more likely alternative to the Conservative Party, whose leader, Andrew Bonar Law, was being sidelined by throat cancer.

"The Present British Pastime" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. March 29, 1923

As signals of the eventual likelihood of a Labour government, the King and Queen had a get-to-know-you lunch with Labourite leaders, and the party officially disavowed Soviet-style communism.

"This'll About Be the End of Me" by Clifford Berryman in Washington Evening Star, March 15, 1923

Speaking of the Soviets, a third stroke on March 9, 1923 had left Vladimir Lenin temporarily unable to speak, and presented the Bolshevik government with its first succession battle. Leon Trotsky, contrary to Clifford Berryman's cartoon, was not terminally ill. But with only tepid and wavering support from Lenin, Trotsky was soon to be pushed out of the government, as General Secretary Josef Stalin had already been consolidating power behind the scenes for years.

"A Haircut and Shave Might Help" by Gale in Los Angeles Times, March 23, 1923

At the same time, Progressive Republicans in the U.S. such as Senators Borah of Idaho and LaFollette of Wisconsin were urging the Harding administration to extend official recognition to the Soviet regime. A high-profile capital trial of some Orthodox priests and bishops, on top of Russia's repudiation of tsarist era debts to U.S. and European governments, made recognition of the government in Moscow politically unfeasible.

"Italy Enlightening the World" by Daniel Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 30, 1923

Traveling now to Italy, we find il Duce Benito Mussolini hosting a major international conference. Daniel Fitzpatrick's sour assessment of Mussolini's welcoming speech was not shared by the Chicago Tribune, which editorialized on March 20:

"Premier Mussolini's remarks in welcoming the second congress of international chambers of commerce ought to win some serious consideration in this country and we especially commend them to those discontented communities of our west whose new leaders are preaching socialistic remedies.

"Mussolini was once a socialist and an exile from Italy because of his opinions. But he lived and thought through that phase and it was in passionate conviction of the fallacy of Marxian doctrine that he inspired and organized the movement that saved Italy on the brink of communist quicksand. Today from the seat of supreme authority, confronting the great dangers and difficulties of reconstruction, he announces his conviction that 'a government desiring to uplift its people after a war crisis must give free play to private enterprise and forego any measure of state control or state paternalism.' ...

"Says Mussolini, 'One of the great historical experiences, which has unfolded itself under our eyes, clearly demonstrated that all systems of associated economy which avoid free initiative and individual impulse fail more or less pitifully within a short lapse of time.'"

"Experience— that is the key to Italy's wisdom at this time. It ought to be ours."

"In Spring the Balkans' Fancy" by Elmer Bushnell for Central Press Assn., ca. Mar. 13, 1923

In addition to the international events recounted here today, shots were fired between Irish separatists and British occupiers, and between Lithuania and Poland. Negotiations to end the Entente powers' occupation of Turkey had been slogging on for months.

"Little Red Riding Hood" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. March 19, 1923

With all this in mind, Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes convinced President Warren Harding to support the idea of creating a World Court to settle international disputes.

"A Dangerous Platform" by Harry Murphy for Star Co., ca. March 29, 1923

It was an idea that didn't sit well with isolationists in the Senate, including the president's Republican supporters and the Progressives, or in the press. In the end, President Harding would be out of the picture before the Senate was ever gaveled into session.

One Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest

This week's episode of Sneezeback Saturday catches (up on) the Spanish Influenza epidemic in the fall of 1918, which was at its worst in October.

"La Nouvelle Indisposition" by TEL in L'Homme Libre, Paris, August 24, 1918

But first, let's reach back to August, when the French cartoonist penning under the nom de plume "TEL" referenced the Spanish Flu in a cartoon about Spain's official letters of protest to Germany over the sinking of Spanish ships. Neutral in the war, Spain nevertheless lost a fifth of its merchant marine and at least 100 Spanish sailors to German torpedoes. In retaliation, the Spanish government threatened to confiscate an equal number of German ships if Germany did not guarantee safe passage for continued Spanish shipping.

"Speaking of Epidemics" by John McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, September 25, 1918

There is a theory that Germany's defeat in the war was due in part to the Central Powers' armies being ravaged by the Spanish flu pandemic. That, and propaganda that the disease originated in Austria may or may not have helped inspire John McCutcheon's cartoon above. The Spanish flu was spreading through the Entente lines as well, however.

"Open a Window..." by Gaar Williams in Indianapolis News, Sept./Oct. 1918

As noted here before, the Spanish flu had nothing to do with Spain. The first documented case of the disease befell Private Albert Gitchell at Camp Funston, Fort Riley, Kansas in March of 1918; within a week, 100 more soldiers at Fort Riley had the disease, and it was spreading as the soldiers shipped out through New York to Europe.

"How to Get a Seat" by Maurice Ketten in New York World, October, 1918

Somehow, the contagion got the name Spanish flu even though there were no cases of the disease in Spain until November. In other European countries, wartime censorship kept the press from reporting the extent of the pandemic; the association of the disease with Spain may have had something to do with the lack of such wartime censorship there.

Detail from "The Rectangle" by Frank O. King in Chicago Tribune, November 10, 1918

We weren't about to let it be called "Kansan flu," you know.

"LaBarouche Toreador..." by J. McIsaac in Le Charivari, Montreal, Canada, October 19, 1918

Not that we actually fooled the rest of the world, or at least our neighbors to the north.

"Grand-dad Inadvertently Sneezed..." by William Donahey in Cleveland Plain Dealer, October, 1918

In spite of the tens of thousands of their fellow citizens stricken with the deadly flu, American cartoonists seem to have had a flippant attitude toward the disease. If I didn't know better, I'd suspect that there was a deliberate campaign to downplay public fears.

"That Guiltiest Feeling" by Clare Briggs in Chicago Tribune, October, 1918

Well, I don't know any better, so I'm going right ahead with my plans to suspect a conspiracy borne of wartime censorship.

"It Happens in the Best of Families!" by Sid Chapin in St. Louis Republic, October, 1918

P.S.: Have you gotten your flu shot yet?