Judge, 1937-09 · page 2 of 36
Judge — September 1937 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis: "Children's Hour: Madrid" This is a satirical editorial photograph (not a cartoon) criticizing war's impact on children. The image shows young children in what appears to be a sewer or underground shelter in Madrid, likely during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The text sarcastically asks whether war truly settles ideological differences, arguing it doesn't—it merely justifies wholesale murder. The author challenges readers to reconsider anti-war arguments, specifically addressing "peace lovers" and inviting them to submit alternative solutions to World Peaceways magazine. The satire targets those who defend war as necessary, using the visual evidence of Madrid's children in shelters as irrefutable counter-argument: war's reality is children hiding underground, not noble resolution of disputes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CHILDREN’S HOUR: MADRID Tus is an actual news photograph of two little girls in Madrid. That's the mouth of a sewer they're in. They were driven there by a hero in a plane who is trying to drop bombs on them. For these little girls and their mothers, and their grandmas, and their playmates are the “enemy.” They must be wiped out in order to make the World safe for Democracy, or Autocra- cy, or Technocracy, or Stoopnocracy, or whatever slogan they've cooked up this time to justify wholesale murder. It’s all a lovely spectacle, isn’t it—an enlightened way for grown men to set- tle honest differences of opinion? That is, if war really did settle differences of opinion. In reality, it does nothing of the kind. The World War demonstrated that and is further demonstrating it every day. Was anything settled? Was the world made safe for Democracy? Were the rights of little nations made sacred? Were oppressed people freed? Was anyone really the victor? Was it the war that ended wars? No, war is the bunk—the Old Army Game. And mister, you'll be in that game quicker than you think—in a uni- form, a muddy trench, a shallow grave —unless you keep your wits alert against propaganda, and your guard up against the tiny, but powerful, minority that profits by war. Tt won't be easy. The peace lovers have always, since the world began, lost out to the war makers. Maybe this time it will be different. Let’s try to make it different anyway. Let's put up a real fight against war this time! Are you game? Write to World Peaceways, 103 Park Ave., New York City. comicbooks.com