Minister plenipotentiary delegated by the Great Powers to oppose the entry of the Allies in Constantinople.
(Le Rire, Paris, 1912) (See also the Austrian and German entries on this topic.)
Tag: 1912
The Angel of Peace
Whoever thought that in the Hague
Everything would fail this time,
Was simply wreathed in error,
Because before you thought things over,
The Angel of Peace was there,
But he was called: cholera.
(Die Muskete, Vienna, 1912) (The First Balkan War was drawing to a close, and for the first time the Hague Conventions were to play a role in the negotiations. Complicating the proceedings was the outbreak of cholera on both sides of the Bulgarian-Turkish lines.)
Force majeure
The Napoleon of the Balkans: “Guys, wait just a minute! If I’ve got cholera, I can’t march into Constantinople!”
(Kladderadatsch, Berlin, 1912) (The figure lampooned here was Radko Dimitriev, the Bulgarian general during the First Balkan War who directed the failed assault on the Chataldzha lines outside of Constantinople just weeks before this cartoon was published.)
The vaccine
(City Council members fighting over budgets)
“And does this mean there’s cause for alarm?”
“No, ma’am; but the City Council recommends the vaccine because while the people are occupied with this, they won’t remember the other stuff.”
(La Esquella de la torratxa, Barcelona, 1912)
Cause and effect
At a vaccination station: Our mayor has joined the antivaxxers, and since then the intellectuals are raving about vaccination and storming the stations.
(Wiener Caricaturen, Vienna, 1912)
“A fresher, happier war”
Cholera to Mars: “If I don’t lend a hand, it’ll just be patchwork.”
(De telegraaf, Amsterdam, 1912)
From the Balkans
Cholera triumphator
(Het katholieke volk, Hilversum, 1912)
In the Balkans
Cholera as angel of peace
(De Notenkraker, Amsterdam, 1912, via Historisch Archief)
They are all pirates!
The machinists are going to drive me crazy – those pirates of capitalism! – some of the colleagues – those government pirates! – the engineers – those pirates of irrigation! – and even mosquitoes – those pirates of summer!
(Caras y Caretas, Buenos Aires, 1912) (A comical variant of Fitzcarraldo, you might say.)
Two respectable ladies
Two respectable ladies: Plague and Cholera, congratulating themselves on the New Year, gave their word of honor to the world that each would not leave it so quickly, because, as it has been said, “he is at his best, who has not even been born or has died on time.”
(Mucha, Warsaw, 1912)
We only remember Santa Barbara…
(Newspapers are reporting that with cases of yellow fever on board a steamer coming from Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul, the former mosquito-killer brigade service was partially restored.)
Mosquito killer: “What!… Are you here again?!”
Yellow fever: “I’m just passing through, to kill… I miss you… But if you want, I can do you a favor…”
Mosquito killer: “A favor!… What?…”
Yellow fever: “Staying in Rio de Janeiro for a while, in order to give you and your companions a farewell to the brigade… The health authorities only remember me when I am present, and after all you also need to kill… hunger! I have a good heart and I can come here from time to time to keep the “sacred fire” of prevention!…”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1912)
Whistling!
(Newspapers are reporting that the cost of living in Brazil is calamitous, afflicting the poor classes.)
Joe Public: “Look, gentlemen, we are reduced by protectionism, which favors a false national industry. Here are the consumers of tuberculosis. Imagine what the descendants of such a race will look like! The people are positively dying of hunger, they are already on the path of despair.”
(Various officials give mealy-mouthed excuses…)
Republican Senator for São Paulo and former agriculture minister Francisco Glicério: “And in the face of spectacles like this, I will not repeat that this is not the Republic of my dreams!”
Joe Public: “Nor mine. Republic of dreamers is what this is, the Republic of talkers. Some are eaters, the rest are fasters. Republic of doctors!”
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1912)
Viennese night specter
What drives through the wind so late at night?
It’s the street sweeper, my child!
It cleans the streets — it’s a horror! —
If you get in its way, you’re done for.
It knows how to find any germ,
It whirls it up, hands it over to the winds,
And what was lying around before, quietly at rest,
It scatters in all directions in no time.
The desert wind, I’m not overstating,
Is child’s play against this work.
And if you’ve just nicely swallowed the tubercles,
That these brooms spit out all around,
Then there is consolation: another process
is being studied — I think for fifteen years!
(Die Muskete, Vienna, 1912)
The famous doctors
According to all the symptoms—that I could detect,—oysters bring the typhus—and, maybe something else. Which is why we made mistakes so many times!
(Gedeón, Madrid, 1912)
Recipes against cholera
From La Esquella de la torratxa, Barcelona, 1912.
Before binging on tomatoes and vegetables, think about how much better prawns are.
Try not to leaf through the Barcelona newspapers.
If you feel a shiver like this from the intense cold… run to the doctor tomorrow!
As you go sweating through the streets, do not leave the shade for nothing… or leave money to anyone.
If you feel the vomit coming, don’t be frightened, for in the pulpits they also vomit to renounce.
Flee from reckless views, suggestive sensations, and overly ardent impressions.
When you feel very hot, before you drink water… think about how much better wine is.
If you feel a pestilent breath… (a nail pulls out another nail) go to the City Hall!
And, if you find yourself exhausted… remember that Firmly Rooted (Catalan novel) has been there three times already.
Sic Transit Pestilentia 