Puck, 1879-02-19 · page 9 of 16
Puck — February 19, 1879 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes food safety and public health concerns, likely from the early 1900s. The top panel titled "The Modern Herod, slaughtering the Innocents" shows a figure brutally killing children—a biblical reference equating industrial food production to mass murder of innocents. The middle-left panel references "Pork Butchers" and contaminated meat sales, while lower panels show families consuming adulterated products labeled "Pure Butter," with a caption suggesting the butter's rank smell rivals death itself. The satire attacks unscrupulous food manufacturers and distributors who sold contaminated or mislabeled products to unsuspecting poor families. This appears connected to broader Progressive Era concerns about food safety and corporate exploitation of working-class consumers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
And now if our Pork Butchers would only sell Pork this way, why. ae “Ah! this way death were sweet!” Butter! But—ah! We'll say no more—'tis rank “Saccharissa Slain."— Waller. and smells to Heaven! comicbooks.com