Those Liberty Loan Posters

A Suggestion for Examining All Patriotic Poster Artists

ROBERT C. BENCHLEY

IF a man wants to serve his country in the army or the navy he has to undergo an examination as to his fitness, both physical and mental. If he is found deficient, he is debarred, and perhaps given something else to do.

If a man is inspired to serve his country by drawing posters, in order to stimulate recruiting or a Liberty Loan, the bars are down. He might be of ever so much more service playing the comet or making beef-stew, but, if he has set his mind on drawing posters, draw posters he shall and the Government would like to see anyone stop him.

After a casual survey of some of the patriotic and Liberty Loan posters displayed during the past few months in public places, the following examination-blank has been drawn up by Vanity Fair, to be filled in by artists who aspire to this peculiar branch of the national defense:

1. Have you ever drawn before? (Drawing for school-papers will not be counted.)

2. Have you the full use of either your right or left hand?

3. Do you drink immoderately?

4. Aside from Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty, has America any pictorial value to you?

5. What are your ideas of the Statue of Liberty? That is, do you visualize it as a statue, a charlady, an epileptic, or a baseball pitcher?

6. Is Uncle Sam, in your estimation, a comedy character or an advertisement for cut-plug tobacco?

7. Why do you consider red, white and blue, used in equal quantities, as essential to the artistic success of a poster? Could you detect any other color if you saw one?

8. Are you a believer in posters with "the punch"?

9. Do you consider that the effectiveness of a poster is ten times increased by making the lettering ten times larger and using ten times as much red, white and blue?

10.Are you a believer in the Business School of advertising exhortation, such as "You", Mr. Business-man, are you a success in life"? or the HeartStrings type of appeal, such as "My muvver says that Simpco Non-skid Varnish is de bestes' varnish in the world, because it is 47% gum-arabic"?

12. Did you ever hear of "white space"?

13. Did you ever see a French recruiting poster?

14. Do you like the Liberty Loan buttons, decoratively speaking? (On his answer to this last question will hang 50% of the candidate's rating.)