Although this striking cartoon of Raemaekers may, since the consummation
of Lord Derby's Scheme and the raising of the new armies, be said to
have lost its sting it cannot be said no longer to have a lesson.
At the time of its first publication the sight of England assailed by
the central Empires bent on her destruction for having thrown the weight
of her trident and her sword into the scales on the side of Justice and
Right against Lawlessness and Might, failed to evoke in many of her sons
the spirit of patriotism which has since manifested itself in many
glorious and immortal deeds.
It was difficult for us to realize that we were at war. And at war not
merely to protect the weak and uphold ideals of national righteousness,
but for national existence itself. The doctrine of "muddle through" was
not confined to the War Office and other Government Departments, but
seemed to permeate the whole nation to a lamentable extent. In the
cartoon we have three typical men with that fatal "business (or
pleasure) as usual" expression on their faces. That Germany should seek
to wrest the trident and sovereignty of the seas from the hand of
Britain, or should have devastated Belgium and the North Eastern
Department of France was obviously no personal concern of theirs. Let
the other chaps fight if they would.
Happily for England and for her gallant Allies the point of the cartoon
has been blunted, if not entirely destroyed, by subsequent events. But
the lesson? It is not far to seek. Is it not that had "business as
usual" not been so gladly adopted as the national creed in the early
days of war, we might have been happy in the blessings of Peace by now,
or at least have had Peace much nearer.
We do not envy the men who might have gone but who stayed at home in
those early days, when their earlier presence on the field of battle
might have been the means not only of saving many thousands of valuable
lives, but of shortening the terrible carnage. It would have been a
thousand times better had the mind which conceived the phrase "business
as usual" been acute enough to foresee the possible and disastrous
misapplications of the phrase. Rather would it have been better had the
idea crystallized in "Do it now."