CARTOON - THE CRUCIFICTION OF REASON
1929This hand drawn black and white cartoon features the image of a man in dark pants and no shirt crucified on a cross with a crowd of men standing around the base. The man's hands and feet are nailed to the cross and his torso is tied in place Many of the men are in suits and wearing hats. Dark clouds gather in the sky from the right side of the cartoon to the middle and has white text written across them reading [ECONOMIC / DISASTER]. Rain is drawn falling from the sky. The crucified man has a board with text reading [REASON] around his neck.
Ben Strange’s signature is in the bottom right corner.
When published in the Western Mail, 14 February 1929 the cartoon was accompanied with the following caption:
AUSTRALAIN INDUSTRY IS AGAIN IN DANGER OF PARALYSIS THROUGH THE FLOUTING OF ARBITRATION DECISIONS.
Ben Strange was a prominent political cartoonist in Western Australia who worked for the Western Mail from 1898 to 1930. This original cartoon, by Ben Strange, was collected by Ivor T Birtwistle who also worked at the Western Mail in the early 1900s.
The cartoon was first published in the Western Mail on 14 February 1929 and foreshadows approaching economic disaster that will follow the ‘Crucifixion of Reason’. The cartoon is possibly inspired by recent statements by the Labour Council at a conference in Melbourne that the union movement would refuse to present their case regarding workers conditions to the Commonwealth Arbitration Court because they believed that the Court was only acting in the interest of employers thanks to changes to the act controlling the court by the Federal Government (The National Party with Stanley Bruce as Prime Minister was in government).
Around this time the WA State Labor Government was largely at loggerheads with the Nationalist Federal Government concerning economic development policy, particularly wage rates for workers.
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The Ben Strange cartoons are historically significant as they depict many key figures linked to the history and development of both Western Australia and Australia. Political figures who regularly appeared in his cartoon’s included John ‘Happy Jack’ Scaddan, the Premier of Western Australia from 1911 until 1916, and William ‘Billy’ Hughes, the Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923.
City of Armadale - History House
City of Armadale - History House
Other items by Ben Strange
- CARTOON - SWEET SIMPLICITY UNDER THE MISTLETOE
- CARTOON - ADRIFT - DROPPING THE PILOT
- CARTOON - SLUMDOM
- CARTOON - LABOUR PARTY I MUST DISOWN ALL KNOWLEDGE OF THE OBSTRUCTIVE ASS
- CARTOON - THE WATCH DOG
- CARTOON - TWO OF A KIND
- CARTOON - THE DECIDING FACTOR
- CARTOON - YOUR EYES HAVE TOLD ME SO
- CARTOON - TRANSFUSION OF BLOOD
- CARTOON - THAT MALIGNANT GROWTH
- CARTOON - WHEN CONSTABULARY DUTYS TO BE DONE - A POLICEMANS LOT IS NOT A HAPPY ONE
- CARTOON - IN TROUBLED WATERS
More items like this
Other items from City of Armadale - History House
- CARTOON - THE LAW OF THE SUSPECT CALUMNY
- CARTOON - THE WAITS CHRISTMAS 1916
- CARTOON - THE SAME OLD COW ON THE LINE
- CARTOON - THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS
- CARTOON - HIS TROUBLE
- CARTOON - TEMPTING GOOD - A BERLIN SHOWCASE
- CARTOON - STARVATION IN EUROPE
- CARTOON - SILENCE IS NOT ALWAYS GOLDEN - AND THE LAW MAKES A POOR CUPID
- CARTOON - A LITTLE BABY WITH A BIG BOTTLE
- CARTOON - SIR WALTERS NEW MASH
- CARTOON - SANTA CLAUSE AND THE SILVER LINK
- CARTOON - THE GREAT PEACE POSTER