---
title: Only the stars are neutral
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/only-the-stars-are-neutral-union-pacific-1941/
description: 'Railroad company sheet: a night train carries camouflaged tanks on flatcars under a starry sky, with the headline ''Only the Stars are Neutral'' and the line'
section: Collection
---

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3. Only the stars are neutral

[![Only the stars are neutral, 1941 US poster: Railroad company sheet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/only-the-stars-are-neutral-union-pacific-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/only-the-stars-are-neutral-union-pacific-1941.jpg)

# Only the stars are neutral

Railroad company sheet: a night train carries camouflaged tanks on flatcars under a starry sky, with the headline 'Only the Stars are Neutral' and the line 'The railroads are the backbone of offense'. Wartime military strength is attached to the company (transfer), and the sheet presents the railroads' role as the backbone of offense while showing nothing of other transport (card-stacking).

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)

## Text on the object

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

```
Only the Stars are Neutral*
*BY SPECIAL PERMISSION OF QUENTIN REYNOLDS
UNION PACIFIC
"KEEP 'EM ROLLING"
THE RAILROADS ARE THE BACKBONE OF OFFENSE
[on the flatcar:] UNION PACIFIC
[signature:] Willmarths
```

[← Only a dope would do this](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/only-a-dope-would-do-this-lion-1941/) [Only x-ray-radium-surgery-ever cured cancer →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/only-x-ray-radium-surgery-cancer-1941/)

## 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)