"New Deal" Poem

Mesa Kaibab Plateau - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Not everyone was delighted with Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and the government's intrusion into private life. Inflation, the welfare state, tariffs, and excessive government control were concerns 75 years ago just as they are today. This poem was written by my grandfather in 1934 when he was ranching and farming near Jireh, Wyoming.

Ernest E. Fullerton moved to Wyoming from Nebraska in 1914 with his wife and seven children. The family settled in a small town which was also home to a Christian College. A deeply religious man and former semi-professional baseball player, my grandfather served on the college board for three years and wrote poems and articles for the Lusk Herald, the area's newspaper.

Dale Fullerton
Rapid City, South Dakota

The Brain Trust

I've signed my wheat rights all away,
I look to Uncle to get my pay.
I need not plow for wheat or corn,
I sit by the fire to keep me warm.
In summer I'll watch clouds float by,
As in the shade I sit or lie.
I have nothing to worry about,
The Brain Trust has it figured out.

I'll raise no hogs to furnish meat,
Uncle will give me stuff to eat.
The thought of cotton makes me sick,
No more of it I'll ever pick.
I need not worry about what I owe,
Uncle will furnish me the dough.
Oh, I've nothing to worry about,
The Brain Trust has it figured out.

This tariff wall we're going to can,
Import our stuff from a foreign land.
Inflate our money, Oh how fine,
A hundred dollars was once a dime.
We'll only work three hours a day,
The rest be given up for play.
We're now on the lode-ish route,
The Brain Trust has it figured out.

We need not worry about what to do,
When to work or when to chew.
When to get ready or what to wear,
How to primp, or fix our hair.
How we must do this, and also that
Now we must be a Democrat.
No we've nothing to worry about,
The Brain Trust has it figured out.

But I'm a man and not a slave,
Our fathers fought for they were brave.
I need not fight, the ballot's mine,
So lets all fall into line.
We need not march with weary feet,
To meet this tyrant, to defeat.
I have a way all figured out,
The Brain Trust can be put to route.

But how can we? I'll hear some say,
Have we not signed the N.R.A.?
Listen I'll tell you how it's done,
Vote for every Republicun.(sic)

E.E. Fullerton
Jireh, Wyoming
1934