1943.03.14 “Hurry Up and Grow”
by Ralph Lee (1906-1947)
14.7 x 23.3 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
Ralph Lee was an editorial cartoonist for the Portland Oregonian. He died suddenly, at 41, in January 1947. His cousin, Art Bimrose, was the editorial cartoonist for the Oregonian for more than three decades. In 1937, the Oregonian hired him part-time to work on printing plates. Following Lee’s death, Bimrose was hired as the Sunday editorial cartoonist.
By March 1943, three things had converged: acute farm labor shortages, as millions of farm workers had been drafted or drawn into war industries; critical fertilizer shortage, as its production competed directly with explosives and munitions; and rising expectations from Washington, demanding more from less. The posture is stern, impatient, and the demand is bureaucratic rather than agricultural. You cannot command crops the way you command troops.
In March, spring planting decisions were being made, and the shortages were already evident.
