attribute the virtues to his own country and the faults to the country of his enemies. Their use is limited by their deliberate
misrepresentations, — “ how often have the Germans sunk our fleet and starved us out in their cartoons, — ” says an English writer; “ how often in ours has the Kaiser confessed that he was
beaten ." These misrepresentations may in a sense be said to be one of the very objects of the cartoon , — " Cartoonists , for the most part, are uproariously cheerful, whatever may happen . They seem
to be cheering victories all the time,” — but the
object in view in no way minimizes the deliberate falsification .65 Their use is limited by their tendency to " make the wish the
father to the thought” and to " fake " outrageously the news presented .66 Their use is limited by the suddenness of the war
that found the cartoonists of the Allies as unprepared as were the politicians and the financiers ; the Kaiser and the Crown Prince were familiar to them , but they were ignorant of the
physical features and of the personal history , the habits and customs of Bethmann -Hollweg, of Hindenburg, of Bernhardi,
and of other chief actors in the war on theGerman side, - " they heard the steps of the horse, but saw not the horseman.” A €5 “ On War Cartoons,” The London Times, October 26, 1916. 66 Many misleading illustrations have been given , especially by the Conti nental papers , of places destroyed by the war, or where the war was going on , but taken before the war began .
The German illustrated papers show Belgian towns before the war. Many illustrations have been given of the sinking of unnamed ships, evi dently with the intention of cheering the public at home.
Many illustrations of the war have been “ drawn from memory ,” since the use of the camera has been forbidden in the places illustrated .
R . de la Sizeranne notes how perverted would be the history of the war based on the cartoons that represent England invading France and attacking Belgium ; hordes of negroes roaming over Europe and threatening Germany with fire and sword ; America conspiring against Germany ; the French ,
Russians, and English overthrowing their governments and perishing like Samson in the ruins of the revolution they have wrought. He also notes that it would be difficult to discover from the cartoons that
Germany was at war with France since the German cartoons are so generally directed against England and are especially vindictive against Sir Edward Grey ; he is represented in a score of different ways and for the most part in a
repulsive manner. - Revue des Deux Mondes, June 1, 15 , 1916 , 6 . Période, 33 : 481- 502, 806 - 841. This study by de la Sizeranne bears out the contention of the New York
Evening Post that caricature in Europe is a matter of personalities , in America a matter of symbols . The form the illustration is to take neces sarily varies with timeand place .
