---
title: '"I did not raise my girl to be a voter"'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-did-not-raise-my-girl-1915/
description: A Puck cartoon parodies the anti-war song 'I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier'.
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[!["I did not raise my girl to be a voter"](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/puck-did-not-raise-my-girl-1915.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/puck-did-not-raise-my-girl-1915.jpg)

# "I did not raise my girl to be a voter"

A Puck cartoon parodies the anti-war song 'I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier'. A woman labelled 'Anti' sings solo while a 'Political Boss' conducts and a chorus of men labelled procurer, dive keeper, child labor employer, grafter, cadet and sweat shop owner backs her. The cartoon argues by association: it places the anti-suffrage position among labelled figures of vice so their stigma attaches to it, without evidence about any named person.

- **Date:** October 9, 1915
- **Period:** [First World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwi)
- **Made by:** Puck (pro-suffrage cartoon)
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=cartoon)
- **Issuer type:** [Media](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=media)
- **Regime:** [Wilson Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=wilson-administration)
- **Leader:** [Woodrow Wilson](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=woodrow-wilson)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Themes:** [Gender and suffrage](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=gender-suffrage), [Elections and party politics](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=elections-party-politics)
- **Event:** [US Woman Suffrage Campaign](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=us-woman-suffrage-campaign)
- **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:I_did_not_raise_my_girl_to_be_a_voter3.jpg), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (published 1915 in Puck; LoC: No known restrictions on publication) Puck, 9 October 1915, p. 6. Library of Congress, LC-USZC2-1196, via Wikimedia Commons.

## Text on the object

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

```
PROCURER          DIVE
KEEPER          CHILD
LABOR EMPL[OYER]          GRAFTER          CADET          SWEAT
SHOP
OWNER

ANTI

POLITICAL BOSS

"I DID NOT RAISE MY GIRL TO BE A VOTER"
SOPRANO SOLO WITH VOCIFEROUS SUPPORTING CHORUS OF MALE VOICES
```

The six chorus-figure labels read left to right as printed on their chests/collars: PROCURER, DIVE KEEPER, CHILD LABOR EMPL[OYER] (partly abbreviated/cut off), GRAFTER, CADET, SWEAT SHOP OWNER. 'ANTI' is spelled out in large letters down the singing woman's dress; 'POLITICAL BOSS' labels the conductor's collar in the foreground.

[← Have You Any Women-Folk Worth Defending? Remember the Women of Belgium. Join To-Day](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/women-folk-worth-defending-1915/) [Tasvir-i Efkar front page, 29 October 1915: Ottoman-Entente war anniversary →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tasvir-i-efkar-war-anniversary-1915/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)