Patrons of the Morton Grove, Illinois Public Library learned more about tomato clubs via a ZOOM presentation today. In preparing the presentation I learned that an Illinois representative to the U.S. Congress offered prizes to corn clubs and tomato clubs in his district in 1916. Winning clubs received a trip to St. Louis. Second place clubs got to go to Springfield, Illinois. I also learned there was a huge debate in 1929 in the U. S. Senate about imposing a 3 cent a pound tariff on imported tomatoes. A senator from Alabama was arguing for the tariff to “protect the girls’ tomato clubs.”
