President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and by 1927, the Food and Drug Administration was established. Both were created to protect the public. Before these regulations, people were unknowingly subjected to unsanitary and harmful foods as well as to dangerous and addictive chemicals in medicine. Muckraking journalists helped inform the public about these hazards as the demand for increased federal health regulations grew.
Questions
Annotate this Image
Directions: Use the annotation tool to take notes on the following questions:
- Do you agree with the author’s (C.W. Post’s) opinion that people have a right to know exactly what is in the foods they eat? If yes, whose job do you think it is it to regulate that people are informed?
- Notice the date this op-ed was published. What do you think the author’s purpose was in writing it at that time? In other words, C.W. Post is trying to convince who to do what?
- What does “It will be opposed only by those who fatten their pockets by deceiving and injuring the people” mean? Who might those “fat pocket” people be? What might be their motivation?
- What are some ways that people then, and all of us now, can hold members of Congress “to strict accountability, and if necessary demand equitable and honest service”? How can journalism contribute to this accountability?
Source: “New Food Law,” The Globe-republican, Dodge City, Kan. March 1, 1906. Library of Congress
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Puzzler
Directions: Take a look at the different sections of the photograph one by one and answer the question that accompanies each section. At the end, you will see the completed image.
Source: Library of Congress
Cropped Image 1
What is happening in this upper left quadrant of the cartoon?
Cropped Image 2
What is happening in this upper right quadrant of the cartoon?
Cropped Image 3
Why do you think the figures in the previous sections are holding their noses? What clues can you find in this quadrant to help you discover what it is that smells so awful?
Cropped Image 4
Read all the words in this quadrant. What definitively is the thing that smells so awful? Why might it smell so bad? What is cholera and what causes it?
