What we get to eat in the country
Subject(s): Canned foods, Country life, Food supply, Fruit, Gardens, Shipping, Vegetables
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Vignettes show a country woman harvesting canned fruits and vegetables from “The Quaint Old Kitchen Garden,” surrounded with scenes of a young boy catching canned “Salmon” from a stream filled with other canned fish, an old man trying to catch cans of chicken running about the farm yard, a man loading a wagon at the “Freight Depot” with food products shipped from New York, and a milkmaid at a dairy opening a can of “Condensed Milk” at “Milking Time.” Caption: “Table stocked daily with an abundance of eggs, milk, fresh fish and vegetables.”
Comments and Context
The caption of S. D. Ehrhart’s topical genre cartoon is, of course, a phrase that frequently appeared in brochures, signs, and newspaper advertisements for weekend or summer-vacation getaways at farms and rural spots. Whether farmers were committed to sell their produce to larger concerns, and needed to rely on canned goods, or not, Ehrhart’s cartoon probably was more representational than satirical.
These days it can be difficult to find, say, orange juice that is not from fruit grown in Mexico, Brazil, etc., according to labels. Or avocados not with Mexico or other Central American “countries of origin,” even when purchased within miles of Temecula, California, where ninety per cent of all avocados are grown.
Perhaps the point of the cartoon, at least to contemporary readers, might be “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose” — “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1906-07-25
Creator(s)
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937
Period
U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)
Repository
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Page Count
1
Record Type
Image
Resource Type
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
What we get to eat in the country. [July 25, 1906]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o285715. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937. What we get to eat in the country. [25 Jul. 1906]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 5, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o285715.
APA:
Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937., [1906, July 25]. What we get to eat in the country.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o285715.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 5, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
APA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
