It means to have enough to eat. The reference is to workers who carry a dinner pail to work with them.

President McKinley said four more years of a full dinner pail. The economy was booming in 1900, so the Republican slogan of "Four More Years of the Full Dinner Pail."

President William McKinley started the full dinner pail. It was used as a campaign slogan during the presidential election of 1900.

Chester A. Arthur

The Doctored Dinner Pail - 1909 was released on:

USA: 7 May 1909