Water Aids Humanity: 給水慈善事業 (Japanese poster distributed in the Ryukyu Islands)
A Japanese-language photo sheet on irrigation. Four photographs show a farmer digging an irrigation ditch, a Taiwanese water wheel, men at a concrete irrigation gate beside a rice field, and three men looking over a reservoir dam, with captions on irrigation as a contribution to world food supply. The tell is transfer: the dam photograph is captioned as engineers from many countries visiting the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's irrigation works.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- January 14, 1953
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- U.S. Information Agency (predecessor: State Department International Information and Educational Exchange Program), Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia series
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Truman Administration
- Leader
- Harry S. Truman
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Science and technology, Economy and finance
- Event
- Cold War
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), Record Group 306, Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, 14 January 1953. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 5730151, 306-PPA-250).
Text on the object
給水慈善事業 土地に水をひく事は一国の農業に裨益する最大な一要因である。琉球は広大な土地をもつ国々とは違つて灌漑をするだけの大量の水を供給できる川がない。琉球ではしたがつて貯水池から給水されねばならないが其の事は小さなダムを作る事を意味する。多くの国は其の灌漑施設を増加する事に依つて世界の食糧需給に大いなる貢献をしている。 この簡単な台湾の水車は近くの畑に充分な水を灌いでいる。 この中程にあるダムの様な灌漑施設は乾地(灌漑されてない土地)を豊饒な国に変えるだろう。 多くの国の技術者が米国土地開墾局の灌漑事業を視察にやつて来る。
Water-supply charity work [printed headline]. Bringing water to the land is the single greatest factor benefiting a country's agriculture. Unlike countries with vast land, the Ryukyus have no rivers able to supply a large quantity of water for irrigation. In the Ryukyus, water must therefore be supplied from reservoirs, which means building small dams. Many countries are making a great contribution to the world's food supply by increasing their irrigation facilities. This simple Taiwanese water wheel waters nearby fields sufficiently. An irrigation facility such as the medium-sized dam here would turn dry (unirrigated) land into a rich country. Engineers from many countries come to inspect the irrigation projects of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Stylised lettering; a few characters in the captions are uncertain readings.
