Kill the Rat! The Most Destructive and Dangerous of Animal Pests
A large rat gnaws grain on a ledge above a border of black rats each marked with a dollar sign, under a headline ordering the viewer to kill it. The text ties the animal to disease deaths and to a stated 00,000,000 yearly loss of foodstuffs while America feeds the Allies. The tells are the fear of disease and the epithets 'filthy and dangerous', applied to an animal and tied to the food-conservation effort.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1917
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Survey
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Health, Economy and finance
- Event
- World War I
- Regime
- Wilson administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 4 (U.S. Food Administration), World War I Posters (NAID 512439), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Survey. National Archives and Records Administration, 4-P-286.
Text on the object
PLEASE POST CONSPICUOUSLY. KILL THE RAT! By spreading fatal diseases the rat has killed more people than bullets have. He is just as filthy and dangerous as ever. THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE AND DANGEROUS OF ANIMAL PESTS While America is trying to feed the Allies, this pest annually destroys foodstuffs in the United States worth $200,000,000. POISON RATS! TRAP RATS! NEVER LET ONE GO! MAKE HOUSES, STORES, GRANARIES, ELEVATORS RAT-PROOF FOR PRACTICAL METHODS OF DESTROYING RATS, APPLY TO U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY, WASHINGTON, D. C. [illegible print code, top right]
