Show T L U 1 0 N 0 U 14 L SA A v 4 6 va aut or tr 10 5 L 1 4 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON S MOST americans know uncle sam P is the personification of the united states just as john bull Is the personification of eng land most americans too know that there was as an original uncle sam a certain samuel ahlson prominent during the IN ar of 1812 but there Is much dispute about some of the de tails of his career and there Is more than one version of the story linking him to the popular nickname of the symbol of our country not only are the facts of this original uncle sams life subjects for dispute but there Is even a dispute over the date of his death and the place of his burial both new lork and indiana claim the latter honor and monuments have been ejected over oner graves granes in each state one in troy N Y and the other in a cemetery near merriam ind each purporting to be tl ti e grav grane e of the inal uncle sam although this samuel wilson gave gale to our na lional vocabulary the term uncle sam it has been the artists and cartoonists of the past cen tury fury who have made uncle sam a familiar figure to all of us the first known figure of the united states in cartoon from which the present figure uncle sam has probably grown appeared in an english paper about 1845 it was vias referred to as brother jonathan the then common designation of the united states in england it may have hale been merely a close relative of uncle sam in any case it represents Figi figure lre 3 a young man of decidedly flippant tendencies dressed in the high hat tall coat and tight trousers of the day gayly thumbing his nose at the spectators the original american cartoon of uncle sam was published march 13 1802 in the new york lantern a corn coin C weekly of tl e time it was drawn bv by r bellow belloni in it figure 1 I is pictured an amused young man wearing the high beaver hat tight trousers loscut low cut waistcoat high col lar and bow tie in which he is still portrayed it may safely be said thit th it bellow in 1852 was the father of uncle sam though its 1 is motherhood has been shrouded in the tales of an earlier ye ir bellows uncle sam however hoeler was nias still a young man not having haling reached the stature and cerfee tion of I 1 Is later years it was as that great ameri amerl can cartoonist thomas nast hoi however Neler who ubo ma aured uncle sam and gave gale I 1 allm irn to the world as we now know him he was to go through a con sid erable evolution before mr nast ast took him in hand an en english fisli cartoon of about 1855 slows adoth er phase of his development a still young man of decidedly hostile intentions figure gure 2 wear ear ing the broad blim raed felt hat of our southern planters carrying the lash of the slave driver in his pocket NN wearing earing a long tailed coat and tight trousers putting up his fist at the conventional and amused john bull during the civil war period another english cartoon shows uncle sam still a beardless young man as a showman wear 14 41 r Z EMIG amelca 1 k A P the twelve cartoons shown above provided by courtesy of the bobbs merrill company publish era ers of john erskines uncle sam in the eyes of his family were selected from american and fore agn papers over a period of more than 50 years and illustrate the evolution of the cartoon f egure gure uncle sam I 1 and some of the various ways in which different artists have thought of him 1 first known example of the use of the car toon f egure gure of uncle sam in the united states published march 13 1852 in the new york lan tern drawn by F bellow 2 3 4 early examples of uncle sam published abroad more than 75 years ago 5 example by oscar cesare new york eve ning post published publish ed during the world war 6 example by rollin kirby new york world published during the war 7 example by J H cassel new york world published during the war 8 example by charles dana gibson published in life during the war 9 spanish cartoon during the spanish ameri can war 10 german cartoon during the spanish ameri amerl can war 11 english cartoon just after the world war 12 italian cartoon during the war 0 ing a high heaver hat figl t trousers and long tailed coat figure 4 thomas nast added to the young man the chin whiskers that have hale been variously arlou sly trimmed and combed by the artists of tl e past 50 years to andl cate everything from a country bumpkin to a beneN benevolent despot nast also added the familiar starred vest lest and striped coat and put stars on the hat mide uncle sam a more real per son than he lie had en ever er been before it is said that nast took his inspiration of uncle sam from the character ot of abr abril ilam aiu lin coin coln dri dr driving i ing into I 1 is physiognomy some of the benevolence kindly humor and tolerance that characterized Ame american cartoonists 1 live ine since followed fol lowel the lea ea 1 of nast gene generally rilly giving their figures a 1 d I enley and an impressiveness in keeping with the growth of american destiny the spanial american Amei ican war aar pr ducci a great flood of uncle sam carto ns most of them were unfriendly with tie sinnie exception of england who maintained an attitude e as illustrated by her cartoonists of amused expect expectancy incy somewhat troubled by the broving gro ving power of 1 ter er younger brother across the seas but generally friendly naturally atu rally the spanish cartoons of the period were the most vindictive one figure 4 9 Is typical A german cartoon of tt e same period is fir pir from flattering tl ough the costume Is I 1 portray portrayed ed tie tl e figure Is that of a typical hebrew peddler eng engaged aged in selling the fruits of his vie tory over spain in the form of dov don es 1 I egure 10 A of uncle sam common abroad in recent lears 3 ears Is that of a very much bloated ex cee prosperous and none too cultured gen tieman an excellent example of this type ap feared in italy just after the last war figure 12 showing a vast lucle sam fat and plastered with V 7 AT YOUR i it 40 11 ait C ft A 7 na ua i money supporting the tottering figures of eng land france and italy during the war ar cartoonists of great ability gave to the nation example after example of the figure uncle sam in which the element of carlea tare had been submerged and the sense of a national spirit personified though the precise featuring of the figure differed with the differing technique of the artists one of the most ed of these drawings appeared in life drawn by charles dana gibson the recognized dean of Am erivin illustrators 0 big 19 ure 8 uncle sam Is here portrayed as a fine elderly man of deep sympathy supporting and congratulating a mother whose son is going to the colors the face is patriarchal the features benign anoil er great american bartoo oscar cesare drawing for the nev ev arl evening post figure 5 shows an exceedingly dominant old gentleman in the act of offering the nation the choice between the shackles of autocracy and a liberty bond J H cassel in the new york orid sl slows aws an equally dominant uncle sam in a somewhat different mood mal mat ing a kindly tion of the man power for the war through the selective draft figure 7 one of the most forceful of the american car toonis ts rollin kirby lurby drawing for the new york world has frequently portrayed port raved uncle sam his ills figures splendid in technique may be taken by many as tj t e spirit of america they like to con as most definitely our own physically pow erful determined and forceful of expression standing four square against the encroachments and infringements of hurtful influences such an uncle sam figure 6 is shown ready to throw bodily from the country the undesirable influences contributing to lau lawlessness although the cartoonists I 1 ave given us our con caption of uncle sam as a national symbol it has been left to a famous american novelist qt to por tray him as a man tl TI at novelist is john ersi ine wl ose book uncle sim in tl ti e eves eyes of his ills fam lly ily v lias as published by the lol bs merrill company recently it was as an ingenious idea that the nov elest had recalling the fi millar carto ns of uncle sam mr air erskine states his main purpose in a foreword forell ord to I 1 Us Is bool is as foil foll ws I 1 have long believed bellei ed tha that this egure be filled out into a complete character en endowed doNled with an inner as vi well ell asa asp i ubi c character so he set about to tell a story that would be more than just a novel about a mythical character it would be a blog raphy of a national temperament As a result americans and our foreign cousins have hane for tl e first time in their lives an opportune opp tty ity to know whit uncle sam thinks about how he would act under given circumstances how he it lives es alo i I 1 0 I 1 alls Is wife e is what hat domestic troubles he had and has the nature of his business his atti attl tude toward his family nilo must of course be the notions about us and their people readers of his book may or may not agree with the novelist st berh aps as to his interpretation of this famous character gut but at least the idea of making him blin the hero liero of a novel is an interesting step in the eNo evolution lution of uncle sara sam 0 4 by western newspaper union |