Fueled for War

As I've said before, the Sigal Museum in downtown Easton is displaying dozens of propaganda posters from World Wars I and II through November. It's part of the impressive new exhibit "Liberty Called and Northampton County Answered" and I highly recommend you make the trip to go see it. $7 grants you access not just to the war posters, but the rest of the Northampton County history museum as well.

This week, I'd like to direct your attention to two posters on display that were originally for the benefit of the United States Federal Fuel Administration.

Fuel Control

If you don't recognize the Fuel Administration, you're in good company. At least these days. The agency didn't last more than a few years, but it was a striking example of the United States government controlling the economy during - and, importantly, a while after - wartime.

Both posters featured today are from World War I (1914-1918) which the United States entered on April 6, 1917. To aid with conserving food and fuel for the war effort, the U.S. government passed the aptly-named Food and Fuel Control Act on August 10 of that year. Both the Food Administration and the Federal Fuel Administration were created shortly thereafter in compliance with the act's passage.

So why should you care? Well, do you care about government influencing the economy, which is kind of a popular topic lately? Perhaps you're among those who think government is too involved with the economy - maybe you're more the free market type?

Then imagine being back in 1917, when the government set the prices of food and fuel. Oh, and it also controlled nearly every aspect of their production and distribution on some level, setting prices both at the mines and the railroads that transported coal. (The Food Administration also banned the production of spirits made from things that could be used as food. In other words, pretty much all alcoholic beverages. It was almost Prohibition in America. Of course, it soon would be anyway, from 1920-1933, so this could be seen as a precursor of sorts.)

Sure, at first the government control of fuel – mainly coal at the time - was just war time sacrifice. The posters illustrate as much. But then the Fuel Administration continued to set prices and influence trade for several years after the war was over. As you can probably imagine, it wasn't popular with many people outside of the Wilson administration - which tried in vain to extend the administration's life - not even Democrats of the time, and it was voted out of existence in a few years.

But what if it hadn't been? An interesting what-if scenario for us to ponder, indeed. And it should also lead us to ask and debate important questions:

• What should government's role be in the fuel economy? Or, while we're at it, the economy at large?

   Poster (1)
   “Light Consumes Coal”

This stark piece of art was drawn by famed Life magazine illustrator Clarence Coles Phillips. I assume he was drawn to the work of encouraging others to save coal because of his middle name, Coles, (which he often, in later years, used as a first name) but who can say?

Coles Phillips was known for his use of negative space in his illustrations for Life, especially his famed “fade-away girls” whose clothing seemed to blend into the background of his works. You can see that same aesthetic in his work on the propaganda poster here: the bold, black background seemingly suggesting the lights be kept low, increasing darkness but also saving coal for the war effort. (It was, and is, easy for people to forget that electricity – which comes to us with just the simple flick of a switch - has to be generated. And that means massive amounts of fuel usage.)

Coles Phillips was known for his use of negative space in his illustrations for Life, especially his famed "fade-away girls" whose clothing seemed to blend into the background of his art. You can see that same aesthetic in his work on the propaganda poster here: the bold, black background seemingly suggesting the lights be kept low, increasing darkness but also saving coal for the war effort. (It was, and is, easy for people to forget that electricity – which comes to us with just the simple flick of a switch - has to be generated. And that means massive amounts of fuel usage, mostly from coal.)

Poster (2)
"Order Coal Now"

This one is by Joseph Christian Leyendecker, known as "J.C.", a German immigrant who rose to great fame in early 20th century America for his hundreds of illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post, influencing Norman Rockwell. You might have never heard Leyendecker, but his illustrations have colored your life: through his work at the Post, he helped popularize the New Years baby and the modern image of Santa Claus as a chubby, red-clothed senior citizen.

Leyendecker would later, after a scarcity of commissions during the Great Depression, go on to illustrate posters for the Department of War (now Department of Defense) during the Second World War, and the Historical Society has copies of them, too.

____________________________________________________________
Kyle M. Jones is a docent at the Sigal Museum in downtown Easton. He likes pizza and long walks on the beach. Only, however, if the walks aren't too long, and pizza is provided at some point.