The newsboy, under military age; one man, well over military age; three
women--and all the rest in uniform--even the top of the bus that shows
in the distance is filled with soldiers. Thus Raemaekers sees the
Strand, one of the principal thoroughfares of the heart of the British
Empire.
For the sake of contrast with the companion cartoon, "Inside the Savoy,"
there is a slight exaggeration in this view of London street life in
war-time--the proportion of civilians to soldiers is necessarily greater
than this, or the national life could not go on. A host of industries
are necessary to the prosecution of the war, and it falls to some men to
stay behind--many of them unwillingly.
There was a time, in the early days, when Britain suffered from an
under-estimate of the magnitude of this task of war--a time which the
cartoon "Inside the Savoy" typifies in its presentment of careless
enjoyment. But that attitude was soon dispelled, and it is significant
of the spirit of the nation that only when nine-tenths of the necessary
army had been raised by voluntary--indeed, this is a certainty, for not
until long after the cartoon was published did any conscripts appear in
the streets. Though, in the proportion of soldiers to civilians, the
cartoon may exaggerate, in its presentment of the spirit of the nation,
and of the determination of the nation with regard to the war, it is
true to life.