Judge, 1917-09-22 · page 4 of 28
Judge — September 22, 1917 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This editorial page appears from the World War I era, critiquing American political leadership. The top cartoon shows multiple figures (likely politicians and military leaders) precariously balanced on a galloping horse, suggesting governmental chaos and instability during wartime. The text references King Alfonso of Spain and discusses American presidential politics, particularly regarding Wilson's successor and Western support. The editorial criticizes politicians as self-serving, contrasts them with noble soldiers, and attacks Democrats and the Kaiser's sympathizers. The propaganda emphasizes soldiers' patriotism and sacrifice versus politicians' egotism. References to "pork" bills and Congressional spending suggest criticism of politicians profiting from war while soldiers die—a common WWI-era complaint.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
I Tramp, Tramp, Tramp ID YOU EVER stand and watch soldiers: go by, led by their band of mus And did you ever feel within your breast those sensations of mingled pride, hope, and fear which nothing elsein your life could ever evoke? Surely; and you lit all most vividly. And e time the / companies of any regiment parade the street you run to the window, if, indeed, you cannot get outside in time. And when the regiment starts for the front—ah, there’s the big event! It grips you. It grips you like a thousand hands; hands that inspire while they commiserate; hands that impart strength though prompting an internal sob; hands that fire with patriotic impulse above such conviction of profoundest pathos that you do not know yourself at all. You are different {rom what you thought. You are a conglomeration of all degrees of sensibility, impressionabi You mistrust yourself. Sense scems to have left you for the most part. What is this transposition, if not displacement, of everyday values? You say to yourself, “This war business is a new one to me. War is unholy. War is an anachronism. It is a bad relic from the past. It belongs to wicked, unclean, brutal, senseless savagery. What has it got to do with civilization?” So the horror of it all sweeps before your outraged vision. But these fine soldiers marching—mighty men! Mighty men because they have set their faces ahead, their cyes looking clear to the future good of their kind. They have discovered the meaning of the present and its meaning for humanity—what it augurs for coming generations. Our soldiers preserve within their highest consciousness cat conception of proportion as it must apply to justice, to civilization, to rightcous progress. They have conserved to te everlasting good of their nation, their country, their homeland, one great and simple idea, an idea which embodies the force of all character. They will lay coe arnan Pr resiyed I A L down their lives for what must be won. strong men those battles which shall protect the cious infamy shall be defeated! Let us cheer our soldiers as they go by. Let us read their valor in their loyal step, their splendid faces. Their gaze is fixed on the goal. Would we were in their ranks, and like them commanding that supreme emo- tion—a worthy patriotism! They will fight as weak. Atro- Sixes and Sevens EFORE the war g Alfonso was the most popular monarch in Europe. Even yet, he s as widely esteemed as a president whose post- masterships are all under civil service. s Once in a while you run across a man who isn’t so dead set on minding everybody else’s business that he'll mind his own. 2 All you have to do to be elected President is to convince New York that the West is for you, and convince the West that New York isn’t. 2 The chances are that the Kaiser would have lost out even without the support he has incurred in the United States Senate. 2 Lots of Democrats pray for Wilson’s success as well as for his successor. ea We hope to see the day when Congress will not dare to pass any more of those “pork” bills unless they benefit our district, ¢ Some men who think they are giving aid and comfort to the Kaiser are far more guilty of egotism than of treason.