Does not the cartoonist Raemaekers fail in this cartoon? The artist Raemaekers is inspired—here as always. But does the cartoonist succeed this time in burning the right idea, his idea, into the reader's brain?
Here is the real Kaiser and here are real German workingmen. It is they who are carrying the burden of Kaiserism. All this is convincing. But do not other workingmen in other countries carry burdens?
The failure is only at first glance. Raemakers is not concerned to reproduce the conventional cartoon of workingmen carrying a burden of other classes on their shoulders. The point lies not in the burden, but in the nature of the burden, the contrast, so perfectly portrayed, between the character of the Kaiser and the characters of his proud and willing slaves. The Kaiser, crafty and contemptuous, but neither so ignorant nor so stupid as to be wholly unconscious of the foolish and contemptible position he occupies! The workingmen evidently once strong, intelligent and enthusiastic, though now blinded and crippled, are utterly unconscious of what they are doing. Carrying the heavy burden of Kaiserism seems no more to them than their day's work.
You see Raemaekers knows both Kaiser and workingmen, and so will have nothing to do with the conventional portraits of either. The Kaiser is neither a beast nor a fool—however foolish his position may be. The workingmen are neither labor heroes ready to revolt, nor conscious and beaten serfs.
So much for the picture—at second glance. It leads to an endless chain of reflections. But the first and most obvious is on the sort of burden these men are carrying. Here is an accepted ruler who is allowed to monopolize the force of the nation, as the cartoon clearly indicates. This of itself gives him an absolute and unlimited power over his workers. The only possible alternative use of that force is to make slaves of the workers of other nations. The German workingmen, it is suggested, lend themselves blindly to this work of enslavement also—naturally, for it is no different for their Kaiser to rule by force and lies over non-Germans than to rule by force and lies over Germans. The face of the Kaiser shows a subconscious realization of these lies. The workers show utter unconsciousness. The rule of autocracy over themselves and the extension of that autocracy over others by means of their blood is to them as much a part of nature as the motions of sun and moon or the rise and fall of the tides!
Indeed, the workingmen are clearly proud of their burden and his successes and undoubtedly feel that any people is blest to be brought under his benign rule. And here is the moral of the tale. It is the Kaiser's successes that have so utterly blinded his serfs. Then there is one remedy and only one. We need hardly say what that remedy is.
WILLIAM ENGLISH WALLING.
