Judge, 1923-03-31 · page 25 of 36
Judge — March 31, 1923 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge page satirizes France's military occupation of Germany's Ruhr coal region following World War I. The central cartoon mocks French Premier Poincaré's invasion as a "coal legion of honor"—sarcastically suggesting France dressed up resource theft as heroic military achievement. The surrounding dialogue comics show French soldiers' impatience for occupation to begin, with German commentary ("Kladderadatsch") depicting the venture as damnable folly. One cartoon shows soldiers "sliding into the Ruhr coal mines" as "the glory of France," with the Devil wishing them luck—implying moral corruption. The scattered cartoons use dark humor: a golfer analogy jokes about repetitive failure, while "Don Juan" concerns orderly letter-burning, possibly alluding to destroying evidence of diplomatic maneuvering. **Context**: Germany's Ruhr occupation (1923) was hugely controversial internationally—seen as aggressive French imperialism rather than legitimate war reparations enforcement.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
were, THE ORDERLY DON JUAN “Arrange those love letters alpha- betically and then burn them.”’—Lon- don Opinion. THE FRENCH HONORARY ORDER OF COAL In order to properly honor the heroes of the Ruhr, Poincaré founded the coal legion of honor. The device is called “Honor and Carbon.” The first knight is General Degoutte.—KlJadderadatsch (Berlin). “Hurray, at last “T assure you we “We've been “Ruhr! What's we are going to oc- are. Everythingis waiting more than that got to do cupy—” ready.” four years.” withit? I’m tell- “Sh! You fool, “Do be quiet!” “We are not to ing you about be quiet.” talk about the my new flat.”— Ruhr?” Cuvre (Paris). SLIDING INTO THE RUHR COAL MINES—“THE GLORY OF FRANCE” The Devil (cheerfully)—Good luck to you.—Kladderadatsch (Berlin). Golfer—Absolutely shocking! I’ve never played so badly before! —Passing Show (London). Caddie—Oh! You ’ave played before, then!—London Mail. 23 vo Poincaré occupies the Ruhr