This cartoon depicts Uncle Sam being held back by by men from fighting with his full strength. Uncle Sam is meant to personify the United States. Uncles Sam’s weak arm represents the feeble military forces available through voluntary enlistment. Uncle Sam’s bulky arm represents the United States’s powerful military capability if it enacted the draft. The group holding back Uncle Sam is representative of congress. The two Germans represent Germany across the Atlantic. This comic is showing the disagreement in the United States of employing conscription during World War I. The United States fought in World War I from 1916 to 1918. The draft was eventually employed on May 18, 1917 until November 11, 1919 through the Selective Service Act of 1917. (Summary created by Mary Delano, MU History Intern, Spring 2018)
