AS OTHERS SAW THEM

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 25, 15 December 1939, Page 8

AS OTHERS SAW THEM

Cartoons of Former Days Reflecting the Views of Various Countries on German Policy — and Their Own

HE cartoon is the art of exaggeration, whether it lengthens the victim’s nose or brightens the colour of his shirt, So it is necessary to remember, looking at those printed on this page, that they ignore one side of the German character and emphasise the other for the sake of effect. These cartoons are history, accurate enough to tempt us into the platitude about repetition; but they need, as the English Listener points out, a note of warning. " Few things," says an editorial accompanying The Listener’s reproduction of a similar collection, "are more puzzling to the average Englishman than the contrast between the brutality

of Germany as a State, and the kindliness of the German people as individuals." Thus, while Sir Nevile Henderson, in his final report to Lord Halifax about the Berlin negotiations, talks of Germany’s "amazing power of organisation, and the great contributions she has made in the past to the sciences, music, literature and the higher aims of civilisation," he speaks also about the inability of the German "either to see any side of a question except his own, or to understand the meaning of moderation." Even these are isolated opinions in the mass of contradictory ideas. Only time will sort them out, or prove right or wrong the English Listener's contention that "it is more intelligent to recognise that duality is somehow inherent in the German nature, that Jekyll and Hyde can be a parable not only of men, but of a nation." If other commentary is needed, the dates included in the captions under each cartoon will supply it. But perhaps special reference should be made to the cartoon in the centre at the bottom of our page. It is not directed against any one nation but against the idea that, in the Treaty of Versailles, the world had found a lasting basis of peace. This disturbingly prophetic effort was drawn by the Australian-born William Henry Dyson and printed by the London "Daily Herald" in 1919. It shows Wilson, Clemenceau, Lloyd George and Orlando leaving the Peace Conference, the Treaty on the floor, and a child

labelled "1940 Class" standing with head bowed behind a pillar. In the caption, "The Tiger" (Clemenceau) is saying: "Curious! I seem to hear a child weeping." The prophecy was only one year out.