The War In Pictures [Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly Newspaper]

America’s self-interested priorities during World War I.

This cartographic cover to the August 17, 1918 issue of Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly Newspaper was designed by Grant Hamilton and highlights America’s astonishing ongoing shipbuilding efforts. One will notice that the numerous vessels are all sailing particularly close to home waters, with the battlefields in Europe relegated to ‘somewhere over the horizon.’ A quote from Edward N. Hurley, Chairman of the U.S. Shipping Board, at the bottom of the page is already looking towards to the end of the war.

“Five billion dollars will be required to finish our programme for 1918, 1919 and 19120, but the expenditures of this enormous sum will give to the American people the greatest merchant fleet ever assembled in the history of the world.”