--- title: In Who's Cup? url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/in-whose-cup-sugar-soldier-1917/ description: A black-and-white drawing shows a U.S. soldier in a helmet beside two cups, one of which receives a sugar lump held in tongs. section: Collection --- 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. In Who's Cup? [![In Who's Cup?, 1917 US poster: A black-and-white drawing shows a U.S. soldier in a helmet beside two cups, one of which](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/in-whose-cup-sugar-soldier-1917.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/in-whose-cup-sugar-soldier-1917.jpg) # In Who's Cup? A black-and-white drawing shows a U.S. soldier in a helmet beside two cups, one of which receives a sugar lump held in tongs, under the question 'In Who's Cup?' The text argues that sugar saved at home means sugar and shipping for the troops and Allies, and that no law compels saving: the Food Administration 'merely ASKS.' The tell is the pairing of the soldier's face with the household sugar bowl, and the description of the claim that there is no shortage as 'German propaganda' that is 'partly true and partly false.' ## Propaganda techniques used in this poster [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) ## Text on the object Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` In Who's Cup ? M. U S FOOD ADMINISTRATION J. In whose cup? Yours or the soldier's? Are you going to save sugar or are you going to waste it? Are you going to use the smallest amount of sugar possible, or are you going to continue to use sugar as you did in the days before the war? Saving sugar here means sugar over there, and ships to carry it, from here to there. You probably have heard that there is no shortage of sugar, and that the raw sugar output is as big, as, if not bigger than ever, and someone has told you that there is no need of saving sugar. This is the most insidious sort of German propaganda because it is partly true and partly false. The shortage in sugar in this country is not due to any shortage in sugar crop, but to a shortage of ships. Seventy-five per cent. of the sugar used in this country has to be carried here in ships. These same ships are needed to transport our troops, our munitions, and the food for the Allies and our soldiers and sailors, to France. Part of these sugar carrying ships have been transferred to more important carrier service. This has resulted in a largely lessened import tonnage of sugar and this means a shortage of sugar here. Our soldiers and sailors and the Allies must be supplied with sugar. That supply must come out of our limited supply here. No law has been asked to compel the individual to apportion his supply of sugar in a sensible, logical and unselfish manner. The Food Administration merely ASKS you to save. What are you going to do about it? ``` Text on the sugar cube ('SU') and the 'U.S.' helmet and collar insignia are part of the drawing. The bold passage in the original ('that the raw sugar output is as big, as, if not bigger than ever, and some-one has told you that there is no need of saving sugar') is not marked here. [← In the Name of God, the Father, Have Pity](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/in-the-name-of-god-the-father-have-pity-1917/) [Invest! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/invest-v-1917/) ## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques - [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)