The cultural explanation for the Carey Salt Soldier are not as obscure as you might think. In Roman times, salt was often used as payment for services - food and booty were obviously part of the deal as well, but a steady supply of salt was one of the recruiter's attractions. (Hence the word "salary," which we use to this day.) The Carey Salt Soldier is simply a 1951 updating of a millenia-long tradition. And perhaps he is meant to offer a martial counterpart to the innocent, feminine image of the Morton's Salt Girl. If Carey's Salt Co. had purchased - i.e., overrun - the Mortons company, the Carey Salt Soldier might have regarded her as the spoils of war, and -

But no. It is too horrid to contemplate.