November 21, 1918 
LAND 6? WATER 
PROGRESS IN THE WEST 
Lackilr we have learot from the Germans that only one man should "give orders 
now we only need to find out what orders he Is to give.}' '^ ' ■ 
shattered trees and shouting to one another: "Do you 
think the Americans will come in this weather ? " And a 
week later a really fine drawing by Th. Th. Heine represents 
French peasants in their fields looking wanly at a truly 
terrific thunderstorm which is rolling up over them and 
saying : " This time it may go hard with us — the Russian 
lightning conductor is out of order." In June, 
in another picture by Heine, called "On the 
Mame," a funereal barge floats on blood-red waters 
under a blood-red sky past a weeping willow. 
On the barge a woman wearing mourning and the 
cap of Liberty faints across a coffin marked R. F. ; 
and at the side of the coffin the Gallic cock turns 
up his claws in the last spasm. It is in the same 
number that Clemenceau, a pitiful and sombre 
figure, looks sombrely at the guillotine. This is 
the climax of German expectation. In July there 
is satire at the expense of German profiteers ; 
and a picture called " German U-boats outside New 
York" shows Colonel Roosevelt, mounted and 
dressed as a rough-rider, riding gallantly over a 
cliff's edge into the sea to dispel the menace, while 
Morgan spends the night in his strong-room and 
Barnum hails the U-boat with a megaphone, ask- 
ing if he may have an advertisement painted on 
its side. It is not till September lyth that we get 
the new note ; and here German infantrymen are 
seen gallantly bombing an advancing tank, and 
the reader is informed that "Not machines, but 
hearts decide the victory." The following week is 
more ominous still. Now, in a picture called 
"Nerves," Hindenburg, bent, gigantic, and statu- 
esque, says, without turning to the frightened 
faces behind him : " Tell your friends they can 
drink in peace — we out here have the responsi- 
bility and the confidence." The last picture closes 
the series on the proper note of suspense and 
terror. It is called "Rumour," and the inscrip- 
tion beneath reads : " Terrible news is reaching 
the citizens — always from the best sources : from 
their own cowardice." But the picture — a huge, 
thin, fantastic figure, stalking down a moonlit 
street, and glaring at the citizens, who survey him 
in panic from their houses — belies the bravado of 
the words. Doom was already approaching Ger- 
many. Two days after this picture was published 
Foch began the offensive of September 26th. 
But these papers provide more than a signifi- 
cant commentary on the march of events. They 
illustrate German conditions and the German mind 
in a very revealing way. They are often really 
witty, though the wit must now seem a little sour 
to the creators of it. Gulbrannson's picture of 
reported "scandals" in the English Cabinet is 
excellently drawn, but is rather too scatological 
for reproduction or comment. But the German 
joke about our " single command " is really amusing, 
if not justified, and the English and French faces 
are well rendered. "Luckily, we have learnt from 
the Germans that only one man should give 
orders," say the Allied Staffs. "Now we only 
need to find out what orders he is to give." And 
this in June — only a month before the Allied 
offensive began. But observe the English officer 
standing up on the right — and confess that the 
type is by no means libellous. In this connection, 
it is worth observing that the artists of Sinipli- 
cissimus seem to have as low an opinion of the 
German soldier as we have. 
In the matter of internal affairs, Simplicissimus 
makes a curious contrast with Kladderadatsch, 
which is just as ugly, but rather feebler and by 
way of being reactionary. Kladderadatsch makes 
fun of shortages, and for the rest vents a futile 
spite on the Allies. It is only revealing when 
it asks who could refuse three fatuously smiling 
young women who bring as gifts three hearts 
labelled Livonia, -Esthonia, and Courland. But 
Simplicissimus smites the profiteer (the Kriegs- 
gewinnler) hip and thigh. It shows him in a 
restaurant, angry because another guest's cham- 
pagne is in an ice-pail, while his Bordeaux 
is not. It shows him telling the war-worn lieu- 
tenant who comes to his party that a monocle 
would have given a better tone to the affair. And 
it suggests that two different Rolls of Honour 
might be published, thus : — 
The Following Have Bled for the Fatherland : 
Private Schulze, Private Lehmann, etc. 
The Fatherland Has Bled for the Following : 
Daimler Automobile Co., Chamberlain von Behr- 
Pinnow, etc. 
But German humour is a variable thing. 
■<5:.rt> 
NERVES 
Tell yoor friends' they'can drink in peace — we out here have the 
responsibility and the eonOdeoce. 
