---
title: 'The Problem: When...and how much'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-the-problem-when-and-how-much-1950/
description: Uncle Sam, dressed as a blacksmith before a forge, studies a wall chart headed 'Conversion Chart No 1... Making a sword out of a plowshare' while a plow
section: Collection
---

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3. The Problem: When...and how much

[![The Problem: When...and how much, 1950 US cartoon: Uncle Sam, dressed as a blacksmith before a forge, studies a wall chart](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-the-problem-when-and-how-much-1950.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-the-problem-when-and-how-much-1950.jpg)

# The Problem: When...and how much

Uncle Sam, dressed as a blacksmith before a forge, studies a wall chart headed 'Conversion Chart No 1... Making a sword out of a plowshare' while a plow lies on the anvil before him. The cartoon argues that the country faces the question of how fast and how far to convert from peacetime to arms production; the technique fit is weak, with the biblical plowshare allusion carrying the argument.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
CONVERSION CHART
No 1...MAKING
A SWORD OUT
OF A PLOWSHARE
A
B
[signature: Jim Berryman]
```

[← Children examine collected Colorado beetles during the "American beetle" campaign, Chemnitz district](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-potato-beetle-search-children-chemnitz-1950/) ["Siemens-Plania grüßt die Vorhut der internat. Arbeiterklasse": factory delegation at the Soviet memorial, Treptow →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-siemens-plania-banner-soviet-memorial-1950/)

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- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)