ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED | MAY 1934 | THE FARMER
This cartoon originally appeared in the May 1934 issue of The Farmer. It was intended to be a humorous satire of the proposed National Products Marketing Act, which was introduced that year by R.B. Bennett’s Conservative government to help farmers suffering through the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The Farmer and many actual farmers in Canada feared that such a move was a prelude to a comprehensive “controlled production” program that would dictate what crops farmers were allowed to grow. The cartoon depicts a stereotypical Irish farmer calling the Minister of Agriculture to ask if he’s allowed to sow oats, and suggests that this is the situation that will prevail if the Act passes.
The National Products Marketing Act was ultimately brought to court and declared unconstitutional in 1937, deemed to be an overreach of federal government authority.