WHY IS IT CALLED PORK BARREL FUND?

The origin of the term "pork barrel" is said to derive from a practice during the pre-Civil War days in the United States when, in periodic fits of generosity, masters would giver their black slaves salted pork in barrels. In 1919, a U.S. political commentator wrote: "Oftentimes, the eagerness of the slaves would result in a rush upon the pork barrel, in which each would strive to grab as as possible for himself. Members of Congress, in their rush to get their local appropriation items...behaved so much like the slaves rushing to the pork barrel" (PCIJ 1998)