Cartoon Articles Archive

This cartoon originally appeared in the June 13, 1912 edition of The Farmer’s Advocate. It depicts a man labelled “stick-to-the-hog farmer” happily tossing his mortgage into the pen to feed his pigs and proclaiming: “Well done - three cheers for the rooter.” The cartoon is clearly meant to lampoon those farmers who advocated sticking with their pig stock, by depicting them as essentially giving up the farm in order to do so. Appearing as it did in 1912, the...

This advertisement appeared in the June 1949 issue of Canada Lumberman. Taken out by the chemical manufacturer, Canadian Industries Limited, it is an advertisement for their chromated zinc chloride product. The chemical was designed to treat wood to make it fire retardant, repel insects, and prevent other forms of organic decay. While zinc chloride was recommended for use in wood treatment as early as 1815, it began to see more widespread adoption in the post-war period following the rapid...

This cartoon appeared in the July 13, 1940 issue of Canadian Countryman. It depicts four men, labelled “farmer”, “labor”, “industry” and “finance” on the same side engaged in the tug-of-war labelled “war effort.” It was accompanied by the caption reading “All together!” making an appeal to class unity in the face of the Nazi armies sweeping across Europe. The cartoon reflects the general spirit of unity that prevailed in...

This advertisement appeared in the July 13, 1940 edition of Canadian Countryman. It was taken out by the Bell Telephone Company of Canada (now Bell Canada) to advertise “farm telephone service.” It was marketed to farmers as a cheap way of connecting them to their friends, neighbours, and markets. While telephone lines were slow to make their way to rural Canada, by the 1940s the technology and infrastructure had developed enough to begin to make it affordable and realistic for...

This advertisement appeared in the October 1953 issues of The Canadian Dairy and Ice Cream Journal, an industry publication appealing to, you guessed it, dairy producers. It was taken out by McKague Chemical Company Ltd., a now-defunct chemical firm based out of Toronto. It was an advertisement for their “McKemco Bottle Washing Alkalies” product, designed to clean and sanitize milk bottles. Clearly, this was marketed during a period when milk was still delivered in returnable...