Judge, 1918-03-23 · page 10 of 32
Judge — March 23, 1918 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is WWI-era propaganda satire targeting draft resisters and bond-drive opponents. "Willie Bonehead" (a deliberately unflattering name) is a pacifist who refuses to buy Third Liberty Loan bonds. The cartoon depicts his nightmare: being forced to carry the Statue of Liberty through German territory or face execution by the Kaiser. The satire's point: refusing to support the war effort is cowardly and unpatriotic. The nightmare is so terrifying that Willie reverses course and buys bonds with money he'd saved for leisure in Newport. This represents Judge magazine's pro-war stance and reflects the intense social pressure and shaming directed at Americans who didn't enthusiastically support bond purchases and military involvement during 1917-1918.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Nightmares of a Pacifist—No. 4 AVING been snubbed by his loyal American friends for declaring that he “couldn’t see his way” to subscribing for Third Liberty Loan bonds, Willie Bonchead dreams that he is com- d to carry the Statue of Liberty through interminable miles of the Black Forest, in Ger- many, or be shot at dawn by the Kaiser. e next day, with the nightmare still vivid in his memory, he bought bonds with the money he had salted down for “a good time” at Newport next Summer. comicbooks.com