--- title: Help Swing the Needle to Democracy url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/help-swing-the-needle-to-democracy-1918/ description: 'A pen-and-ink balance scale hangs from a chain: the US Capitol sits in one pan and packaged food goods in the other.' section: Collection --- 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. Help Swing the Needle to Democracy [![Help Swing the Needle to Democracy, 1918 US poster: A pen-and-ink balance scale hangs from a chain](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/help-swing-the-needle-to-democracy-1918.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/help-swing-the-needle-to-democracy-1918.jpg) # Help Swing the Needle to Democracy A pen-and-ink balance scale hangs from a chain: the US Capitol sits in one pan and packaged food goods in the other, while a pointer runs from 'Democracy' through 'Conservation' to 'Destruction'. A funnel labelled 'Autocracy' swallows a figure at left, and a scroll at right headed 'Destruction Will Ensue' lists consequences of not conserving food. The tell is the three-point scale that frames conservation as the only alternative to destruction. ## Propaganda techniques used in this poster [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) ## Text on the object Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` HELP SWING THE NEEDLE TO DEMOCRACY [arc under the pointer:] DEMOCRACY CONSERVATION DESTRUCTION [funnel:] AUTOCRACY [labels on goods in the right pan:] FLOUR, HAM, LARD, SUGAR [and others, partly legible] DESTRUCTION WILL ENSUE Unless there is a hearty response through Conservation. Uncle Sam has placed you on your honor to conserve food. Uncle Sam will discontinue this privilege unless there is a real change in your daily food rations. Uncle Sam is about to send you a card of caution against hoarding food. Some are still eating Meat Three times a day and he is aware of the fact. A ration of Seven pounds of Sugar has been allowed for your personal consumption per Month. A ration of Three pounds per Month will be your allowance if you dont save it. You are still at liberty to eat what you desire. Conditions do not remain so with our Allies at the present time. Uncle Sam has an abundance of food and he will not hoard it while our Allies are suffering the pangs of hunger. If you do not heed to a few conservation requests, you are doing an injustice to your Country, to our Allies and to yourself. You Must Save Food. FOOD AND MEN WILL WIN THE WAR [artist's signature in lettering at lower left, partly legible:] Paul J. K[illegible] ``` Scroll text read from the 2000 px scan; a few words are faint (for example 'real change', 'dont') and are given as best read. The signature at lower left is only partly legible. [← Help Our Town Win This Flag: Honor Flag, 4th Liberty Loan Honor Roll of Subscribers](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/help-our-town-win-this-flag-1918/) [Help Us Save the Grain and Win the War! Pitch Evenly, Heads First →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/help-us-save-the-grain-pitch-evenly-heads-first-1918/) ## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques - [Miniature of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, Les Passages d'outremer (BnF Fr. 5594, fol. 19r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passages-doutremer-council-of-clermont-colombe-1474/) (France · 1474 · Testimonial, Fear appeal). Content note: Medieval religious imagery and a French text describing alleged killings and captivity of eastern Christians, as used to argue for the First Crusade; the text is shown as written. - [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers. - [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal) - [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling) - [Proclamation de Sonthonax en créole, Cap-Français (Proclamation of Commissioner Sonthonax in Creole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sonthonax-proclamation-creole-1793/) (France · Aug 29, 1793 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating). Content note: Colonial-era proclamation on slavery and emancipation in Saint-Domingue; speaks of slaves, whips and 'Nègues' in period terms. - [Gazette of the United States, "The Jeffersoniad" no. VIII, 14 August 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gazette-us-jeffersoniad-1800/) (United States · Aug 14, 1800 · Name-calling, Fear appeal) - [Tyrants Prostrate, Liberty Triumphant (pro-Polk cartoon on Dorr), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tyrants-prostrate-liberty-triumphant-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Fear appeal). Content note: Speech balloons contain anti-Catholic and nativist wording ('the ruins of Popery') in the mouths of the Whig figures, written by a Democratic cartoonist and shown unaltered. - [Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862/) (Russian Empire · 1862 · Fear appeal, Transfer)