---
title: The caissons go rolling along, except for Joe Dope's little throng
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-caissons-go-rolling-along-joe-dope-1941/
description: 'Ordnance vehicle-care cartoon: tanks and trucks roll past while three soldiers heave at a stalled jeep-type truck and an officer glowers over its'
section: Collection
---

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3. The caissons go rolling along, except for Joe Dope's little throng

[![The caissons go rolling along, except for Joe Dope's little throng, 1941 US poster: Ordnance vehicle-care cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/the-caissons-go-rolling-along-joe-dope-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/the-caissons-go-rolling-along-joe-dope-1941.jpg)

# The caissons go rolling along, except for Joe Dope's little throng

Ordnance vehicle-care cartoon: tanks and trucks roll past while three soldiers heave at a stalled jeep-type truck and an officer glowers over its windscreen, under a verse about a flat battery that 'they left out of the song'. The label 'dim-witted clown' is name-calling aimed at the careless soldier, with the slogan 'Don't be a dope!' beneath.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)

## Text on the object

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

```
The caissons go rolling along..
Except for Joe Dope's little throng..
The dim-witted clown
Let the battery run down
(A point they left out of the song!)
Don't be
a dope!
HANDLE EQUIPMENT RIGHT!
[signature: Will Eisner, ORDNANCE]
[imprint:] ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT, U. S. ARMY  PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE PROGRAM
```

[← Better take care of what you buy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/take-better-care-of-what-you-buy-1941/) [The Sowers →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-sowers-1941/)

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- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
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- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
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- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
- [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/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)