The American Issue, June 28, 1912.

The American Issue, June 28, 1912.

The main point of this piece is that alcohol harms in many different ways. They also compare it to germ theory with flies and how they hurt many babies due to the pathogens that they carried. In their part of the cartoon they share many different ways alcohol harms the American public like degeneracy, lessened birthrate, insanity, alcoholics going to jail, diseases passed down to children, and lastly poverty. The main theme is that drinking alcohol needs to be seen as a disease, and that we need to stop the spread before it harms the future generation.

The image is split in two. On the left side is a young baby, and a fly hovering over the baby. On top of the image of the baby says "Kill the Fly, and Save the Baby."

Below the image reads, "Summer complaint, which causes the death of many young children every season, is nearly always the result of germs in food. THESE ARE OFTEN CARRIED TO FOODS BY FLIES . KILL THE FLIES!"

On the right side of the pictures is the words, "Kill Alcohol and Save the Coming Generation"- on top. The below image is a bottle with the label stating, "ALCOHOL degeneracy is shown in the lessened fertility of the Nation In five years the birth rate in the United States, fell off thirty three and one third percent Back of all the causes for this alarming conditions Alcohol is the chief degenerative factor. -Dr. MacNichall."

There are multiple posters surrounding the bottle in the middle, one on the far most right is a home for crippled children, and underneath the building states, "A defective germ cell cannot evolve a normal body this is the reason we find a large percentage of functional and organic diseases among children of drinking parents- Dr. Mack."

The middle top poster shows a insane asylum building which the words underneath saying, "Insane and Feeble minded increased 850 per century in fifty years practically all due to excessive use of alcohol- Dr.Matticol."

The last poster on the top on the left displays a penitentiary and underneath simply states, "FILLED WITH ALCOHOL'S VICTIMS".

Below the bottle on the left is a poster of a saloon. The next poster on the bottom is a picture of a closed school with the words, "Ninety-one per centum of the children of drinking parents in the New York schools suffer from some functional or organic disease- Dr. MacNicoll."

The next poster on the bottom right is a factory with the words, "CHILD LABOR FOSTERED BY ALCOHOL."

The last poster on the middle right is a poor house with this description below it, "MADE PAUPERS THROUGH ALCOHOL."

The American Issue (Westerville, Ohio)

Library of Congress.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL.

June 28, 1912.

Under Public Domain.

PDF.

English.

Newspaper Image with Text.

Library of Congress Control Number: sn2008060406

Prohibition.

Newspaper Cartoon.

8.89 × 12.76 in