This 1887 cartoon illustrates the conflicting interests in government food regulation. The monster’s three heads represent processed food manufacturers and their new products – glucose syrup, cottonseed oil shortening, and oleomargarine. The farmer represents agricultural interests; he is fighting the fraud of manufacturers who misrepresent their products to compete with cane sugar, lard, and butter. He has injured the oleomargarine head of the monster, a reference to the Oleomargarine Act of 1886 that favored the dairy industry.
Cover of Rural New-Yorker, 46 (May 14, 1887). (Courtesy of Internet Archive)
Image featured in Investigating Family, Food, and Housing Themes in Social Studies by Cynthia Resor
This could be a fun cartoon to show the students about how farmers were against manufacturers who were selling competing products and create awareness of food regulation in the past and today.
I could use this photo in my future classroom to teach students about political cartoons. This particular one, in the late 1800s, shows how farmers fought government regulations on foods because they saw the regulations as “fraud.” There are still political cartoons today to raise awareness so it is still relevant!