Laughter's Grim Echo

Let's start this Sententiousback Saturday with a couple examples of the dry, preachy editorial cartoons that make up the greater part of American cartoonists' output during World War I.

"The Sword Must Be Broken" by Charles R. McAuley in New York World by February 19, 1918

Charles R. McAuley's cartoon might have been more effective if the Kaiser's sword, labeled "Autocracy," were more prominent than the one held by Ms. Justice. McAuley, who got his start at magazines such as Judge and Puck, specialized in this sort of dreary, bombastic cartoon, but won the Pulitzer prize for editorial cartooning in 1930 anyway.

"Hohenzollern, the High Toll-Taker" by Charles R. McAuley in New York World by February 27, 1918

Or perhaps as a result.

One reason for the preponderance of pedagogy is that the Committee on Public Information, created by executive order within days of the U.S. declaration of war, included a Bureau of Cartoons which would suggest ideas that they wanted cartoonists to draw in support of the war effort. These ideas were coming from ideologues and propagandists, not wits and bons vivants.

Another reason is that publishers, then as now, understand cartoons in which a brooding Teuton with a sword labeled "criminal autocracy" sits on a sack of cash with his boot resting on a slain maiden. There is no joke in such a drawing that has to be explained to them. And it's as serious as the rest of the page.

Not that cartoonists wouldn't try to slip a little levity in when they could.

"Those German 'Piece' Terms" by Magnus Kettner for Western Newspaper Union, by February 22, 1918

In case it's difficult to read the grocery list in Magnus Kettner's cartoon, little Wilhelm Hohenzollern's Piece Terms are: "Piece of Russia, Piece of France, Piece of Poland, Piece of Belgium, Piece of Roumania..." There have been cleverer puns in the history of the English language, but it was good enough to make Mr. Globe-head's day.

"It's Filling" by Harry Keys in Columbus Citizen by February 25, 1918

Harry Keys tended to have a generally whimsical approach to cartooning. His take on German diplomatic success in its peace negotiations at Brest-Litovsk with Russia and with Ukraine isn't necessarily side-splitting — unless you're Kaiser Wilhelm or Graf Von Hindenburg.

"Ding" Darling adds a judicious level of levity on the same topic. (Clearly, American cartoonists still had no idea what Vladimir Lenin looked like; but that's a decent caricature of Wisconsin Senator Bob LaFollette peering over the fence.)

"And Yet There Are Those..." by John "Ding" Darling, by February 21, 1918

Of course, war is serious business after all. Russia's withdrawal from the war was a significant setback for its allies. As far as some American cartoonists were concerned, that was nothing short of outright betrayal.

"The Quitter" by John H. Cassel in New York Evening World, January, 1918

"Deserter?" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Eagle, January, 1918

In particular, Russia's withdrawal left Romania surrounded by hostile powers on all other sides. Romania was forced to negotiate an armistice with the Central Powers in December of 1917; King Ferdinand named a pro-German Prime Minister in March, 1918 as his last gambit to negotiate peace terms Romania could live with.

William Hanny affords the Balkan country a more sympathetic treatment than John Cassel or Nelson Harding had given its neighbor to the east.

"You Did the Best You Could, Anyway" by William Hanny in St. Joseph (Mo.) News-Press, March 2, 1918

Here Italian-born cartoonist Maurice Ketten (né Prosper Fiorini) sets his sense of humor aside to draw in service of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, one Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

"Help Catch 'Em!" by Maurice Ketten (Prosper Fiorini) in New York Evening World, by February 20, 1918

Although his work appeared on the editorial page, Ketten's cartoons tended to be droll observations on the state of contemporary fashion in art, clothing, music, and the like. You might compare his work to "Berry's World" or "Dunagin's People" if you're old enough to remember those editorial page panels. Ketten's cartoons rarely ventured into politics; he was not the sort to draw, say, ogre-ish depictions of Kaiser Wilhelm slaughtering Ms. Europa.

I'm quite certain that Ketten's call for field glasses was on the level, not some attempt to satirize a lack of military preparedness. The U.S. was kind of new to the business of equipping our fighting men to fight overseas, so a certain degree of deficiency in supplies was to be expected. But we're old pros at that stuff now, so you'd think we wouldn't need citizens to chip in to keep our soldiers in Iraq supplied with helmets.

That's all for this week's installment of World War I cartoons. And if you thought these were funny, next week's look at what cartoonists abroad were drawing will have you rolling on the floor with laughter.

The Goal Is Won, Jerusalem

In light of near-unto-global ostracization of the U.S. for the Corrupt Trump Administration's plans to recognize Jerusalem as the exclusive capital of the state of Israel, Seventeenback Saturday takes one more look back at editorial cartoons from December, 1917. The issue this time is the British conquest during World War I of Jerusalem, then part of the Ottoman Empire.

"Again at the Gates of Palestine" by William Donahey in Cleveland Plain Dealer, December, 1917

The Sinai and Palestinian Campaign of the war had begun for the most tactical of reasons: the Ottoman Empire, in league with Germany, attacked the Suez Canal in January of 1915 in an unsuccessful attempt to cut Great Britain off from its colonies in India and eastern Africa. Over the next two years, Britain retook the Sinai peninsula and advanced into Ottoman territory. The Battle of Jerusalem began on November 17, and American cartoonists, to a man, made the now unfortunate decision to depict the battle as the Fourth Crusade. ("Crusade" being the Christian word for "jihad.")

"Fourth and Last Crusade" by Kenneth R. Chamberlain in Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, December, 1917

Even Kenneth Chamberlain, an antiwar socialist whose work had appeared in The Masses (until it was shut down after the November-December, 1917 edition), succumbed to the temptation to draw the British conquest of Jerusalem as a triumph of Christendom over the Heathen Foe. "I just went along after we were in the war," Chamberlain said in a 1966 interview. "I wanted to hold my job as a cartoonist although I wasn't for the war."

The British populace, on the other hand, considered the conquest of Palestine as a minor operation, a distraction of soldiers and materiel which would be more useful fighting on the Western Front. Harper's Weekly agreed, writing, "The capture of Jerusalem by the British forces has almost eclipsed the more important military operations in Europe."

Contrast this whimsical cartoon from Punch, of Sultan Mehmet V reading a telegram from Kaiser Wilhelm, with most of the American cartoons in this post.

"A Great Incentive" by Leonard Raven-Hill in Punch, London, November, 1917.

Jerusalem surrendered to British forces on December 9, and as far as American cartoonists were concerned, it was time to break into "Good Christian Men Rejoice."

"After Seven Centuries" by Daniel Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December, 1917

If Lord Balfour believed that "His Majesty's government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for Jewish people," American cartoonists were not celebrating this victory as one for Zionism. (There must have been at least one cartoon drawn for an American Jewish publication on this topic, but I'm afraid I have not been able to find it.)

"Christianity's Christmas Gift" by John McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, December, 1917

Not every cartoonist went all "Onward Christian Soldiers" on this topic. Ted Brown clearly labeled the character in this cartoon "Turkey" and clothed him to match, although the face has the upturned mustache of Kaiser Wilhelm.

"Ending the Pipe Dream" by Ted Brown in Chicago Daily News, December, 1917

I have qualms about including this next cartoon. There is a lot of blatant racism in cartoons of this era, and I have avoided posting some otherwise interesting cartoons — not all by Dixieland cartoonists — because of stereotypes that are now offensive (and casual use of the N-word). In this case, was "Papa Mohammed" the only Muslim name Harry Keys knew, or was he actually trying to depict the Prophet? Why not draw the Ottoman Sultan (whose name, of course, is a Turkish variant on the Prophet's)?

"Papa Mohammed Hasn't Been the Same" by Harry Keys in Columbus Citizen, December, 1917

It's not as if Mehmet V's visage was totally unknown in the states; John McCutcheon had it handy for a cartoon depicting Allied forces closing in on Turkey on its Palestine, Baghdad, Persian and Persian Gulf fronts.

"The Bagdad Corridor" by John McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, December, 1917

McCutcheon correctly does not depict Entente forces threatening Mehmet on his Balkan front. As noted last week, Romania signed an armistice with the Central Powers; Greece was busy fighting Bulgaria; and Italy was counting on Serbian help fending off Austrian and German forces in the Alps. And although Turkish and native forces made further attempts to wrest Jerusalem back from the Allies, the end result of the campaign would be the British Mandate for Palestine and the French Mandates for Lebanon and Syria.

Germany had been directly involved in the fighting in Palestine; but German cartoonists, if they commented on the British victory at all, did so in the snarkiest of terms.

"Die Gralshüter" by Wilhelm Schulz in Simplicissimus, January 15, 1918