Raemaekers' Cartoons Part 26

E. CHARLES VIVIAN.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WE HAVE FINISHED OFF THE RUSSIANS

"Wait a moment."]

MUDDLE THROUGH

Although this striking cartoon of Raemaekers may, since the consummation of Lord Derby's Scheme and the raising of the new armies, be said to have lost its sting it cannot be said no longer to have a lesson.

At the time of its first publication the sight of England a.s.sailed by the central Empires bent on her destruction for having thrown the weight of her trident and her sword into the scales on the side of Justice and Right against Lawlessness and Might, failed to evoke in many of her sons the spirit of patriotism which has since manifested itself in many glorious and immortal deeds.

It was difficult for us to realize that we were at war. And at war not merely to protect the weak and uphold ideals of national righteousness, but for national existence itself. The doctrine of "muddle through" was not confined to the War Office and other Government Departments, but seemed to permeate the whole nation to a lamentable extent. In the cartoon we have three typical men with that fatal "business (or pleasure) as usual" expression on their faces. That Germany should seek to wrest the trident and sovereignty of the seas from the hand of Britain, or should have devastated Belgium and the North Eastern Department of France was obviously no personal concern of theirs. Let the other chaps fight if they would.

Happily for England and for her gallant Allies the point of the cartoon has been blunted, if not entirely destroyed, by subsequent events. But the lesson? It is not far to seek. Is it not that had "business as usual" not been so gladly adopted as the national creed in the early days of war, we might have been happy in the blessings of Peace by now, or at least have had Peace much nearer.

We do not envy the men who might have gone but who stayed at home in those early days, when their earlier presence on the field of battle might have been the means not only of saving many thousands of valuable lives, but of shortening the terrible carnage. It would have been a thousand times better had the mind which conceived the phrase "business as usual" been acute enough to foresee the possible and disastrous misapplications of the phrase. Rather would it have been better had the idea crystallized in "Do it now."

CLIVE HOLLAND.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MUDDLE THROUGH]

MY ENEMY IS MY BEST FRIEND

These words of Emerson's express exactly the thought of this cartoon.

The Netherlands is a country that has been slowly won from the ocean; the cruel sea has always been its enemy, at first completely triumphant, then gradually resisted and driven forth by the enterprise and toil of men; but it is always an enemy to be dreaded. Its inroads have to be guarded against by great d.y.k.es and by the never-ceasing care and industry of the nation. Now and again the floods come, and people barely escape in boats from the waters. Yet time and again the enemy has been the best friend of the Netherlands. This enemy has saved them from the domination of Spain, and now, as the refugees on the floods of last winter are escaping from the jaws of death they feel that the water which is now an enemy (_vijand_), may to-morrow be a friend (_vriend_); for an invasion by the Germans, that ever-dreaded danger to all patriotic Dutchmen, can be guarded against only by the friendly help of the ocean which can be invoked in case of need to save its own people.

It was only in the last resort that William the Silent consented to let in the sea. He resisted the Spaniards as long as he could, and only when all possible chance of further resistance was at an end did he have recourse to the sea as the last friend. He saved the country by allowing the German Ocean to destroy it. In this cartoon the people in the boats regard the sea as their enemy; but an invasion by German armies could not be resisted except with the help of the friendly sea, whose voice is the voice of Freedom.

WILLIAM MITCh.e.l.l RAMSAY.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Floods in Holland--now a fiend, to-morrow a friend.]

HOW I DEAL WITH THE SMALL FRY

Perhaps only those who have the opportunity of reading the papers published in neutral countries, and have made a study of the mendacious "news for neutrals" issued by the notorious Woolf Agency and German Wireless Bureau, are able to grasp the powerful inner motive which actuates Raemaekers in the persistence with which he seeks to drive home the tragic stories of Belgium and Luxemburg. At this time of day it might seem superfluous to issue a cartoon of this kind. But is it? With neutral opinion apparently by no means convinced as yet of the sinister designs of Prussianism upon the liberties of Europe and especially of smaller nations a drawing of such poignancy and force cannot fail to arrest the attention and bring home the lesson of that creed which has for its gospel such phrases as "Necessity knows no law" and "Force shall rule." It is inconceivable to the thinking mind that there can be a man or woman who, with the story of the violation of Belgium and Luxemburg before them, can possibly hesitate to brand the German nation with the mark of Cain, and tremble at the mere possibility that might should triumph over right.

Our wonderment is all the greater when we remember how the Kaiser and his murderous hordes have made no secret of their methods. They may in the end seek to deny them, to repudiate the deeds of blood and of unholy sacrilege and violence which in the early days of war were avowed concomitants of their policy, but such disavowal is not yet.

Beneath the Kaiser's heel in b.l.o.o.d.y reality lie at the present time Belgium and unprotected Luxemburg every whit as much as is shown by the powerful pencil of the artist.

The reign of l.u.s.t, cruelty, and destruction is not yet done, though the signs and portents of the end are not now a-wanting. The blood of men, women, and little children shall not cease to cry aloud for vengeance until the Prussian eagle is humbled in the dust, and its power for evil is utterly destroyed. This is a good cartoon to bear in mind and look upon should "War weariness" ever overtake one. It will be a good one to have upon one's wall when peace talk is head in the land.

Thomas Moore may be said to have composed an epitaph for Prussianism three-quarters of a century ago when he wrote the lines:

"Accursed is the march of that glory Which treads o'er the hearts of the free."

A great statesman has declared "the Allies will not sheathe the sword until Justice is vindicated." Let us add "and until reparation is exacted to the uttermost farthing from these responsible for this b.l.o.o.d.y conflict and its diabolical crimes, whether the perpetrators be high or low."

CLIVE HOLLAND.

[Ill.u.s.tration: How I deal with the small fry.]

THE TWO EAGLES

A double-edged satire on both political birds. Neither is a true eagle.

They have talons but nothing of the n.o.ble air proper to the king of birds. The German bird is not an eagle but a vulture; and he is in a sorry plight, with torn and ruffled feathers, dishevelled, dripping blood. He is disappointed, angry, soured, and unhappy. Yet he is straightforward about it. He makes no attempt to disguise his feelings, but glares at the other with the indignation of one who has been deceived written on his face and vibrating in his voice.

And his reproach gets home. The American bird, who is bigger and stands on a bigger rock, is sleek enough except about the head which is a bit ruffled. But he is more of a raven than an eagle in his sable plumes of professional cut, and he is obviously not at ease. He does not look the other in the face. He stares straight in front of him at nothing with a forced, hard and fixed smile, obviously a.s.sumed because he has no reply to make.

During the war many indiscreet phrases have dropped from the lips of prominent persons who must bitterly regret them and wish them buried deep in oblivion. But they stand on record, and history will not let them die. "Too proud to fight" is the most unfortunate of all, and when others are forgotten it will remain, because it has a general application. Mr. Raemaekers exposes its foolishness here with a single masterly touch and he puts the exposure in the right mouth. The cartoon is an illuminating epitome of the interminable exchange of notes between the two Powers on submarine warfare.

A. SHADWELL.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "I thought you said you were too proud to fight."]

LONDON--INSIDE THE SAVOY

At first glance this cartoon would seem to imply that the people inside the Savoy had little interest in the war, for the figures in evening dress are well in the foreground; a count of heads, however, will show six, and possibly seven men in uniform and only four in civilian attire, and of the soldiers not one is dancing--they are lookers-on at these strange beings who pursue the ordinary ways of life.

Of such beings, not many are left--certainly not this proportion of four to six, or four to seven. Compulsion has thinned the ranks of the s.h.i.+rkers down to an irreducible minimum, and a visit to the Savoy at any time in the last six months of 1916 would show khaki entirely preponderant, just as it is in the streets. These correctly dressed and monocled young men have been put into the national machine, and moulded into fighting material--their graves are thick in Flanders and along the heights north of the Somme, and they have proved themselves equal and superior to what had long been regarded as the finest fighting forces of Europe.

It is in reality no far cry from the Somme fighting area to the light and the music of the Savoy, and a man may dance one night and die under a German bullet the next--many have already done so. Here the artist shows the lighter side of British life to-day, but one has only to turn to the companion cartoon to this, "Outside the Savoy," to see that he realizes London as thoroughly in earnest about the war.

E. CHARLES VIVIAN.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LONDON--INSIDE THE SAVOY]

LONDON--OUTSIDE THE SAVOY

The newsboy, under military age; one man, well over military age; three women--and all the rest in uniform--even the top of the bus that shows in the distance is filled with soldiers. Thus Raemaekers sees the Strand, one of the princ.i.p.al thoroughfares of the heart of the British Empire.

For the sake of contrast with the companion cartoon, "Inside the Savoy,"

there is a slight exaggeration in this view of London street life in war-time--the proportion of civilians to soldiers is necessarily greater than this, or the national life could not go on. A host of industries are necessary to the prosecution of the war, and it falls to some men to stay behind--many of them unwillingly.