New Deal Art: "Resurrection"

Above: "Resurrection," an oil painting by George Henry Melcher (1881-1957), created while he was in the WPA, ca. 1939-1940. Melcher painted several nice landscapes while in the WPA. "A master of color, composition and technique, he captured on canvas the beauty of southern California and the timelessness of nature" (George Stern Fine Arts). Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Long Beach Museum of Art.

New Deal Art: "Village in the Smokies"

Above: "Village in the Smokies," a watercolor painting by Richard H. Jansen (1910-1988), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1938. Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

The New Deal lifted farmers up; Trump and the GOP are bankrupting them

"The relation between the farmer and the New Deal is the essence of democracy, the people and their government working out their problems together."

--U.S. Senator Sherman Minton (D-Indiana), in The Hancock Democrat (Greenfield, Indiana), October 20, 1938. 

Above: "Haying," an oil painting by Emily Poirius, created while she was in the WPA, ca. 1935-1943. Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

Trump and the GOP are driving farmers into bankruptcy

American farmers are declaring bankruptcy more frequently and "The Wall Street Journal points to Trump's trade war with countries like China and Mexico as a key driver in the rising rate... Soybean and hog prices fell after those countries imposed retaliatory tariffs on the United States in response to Trump's steel and import tariffs..." (See, "Midwest farmers going broke at record rates thanks to Trump's trade war: Bankruptcies have doubled in the biggest farm states, with falling prices and the trade war largely to blame," Salon, February 13, 2019.)

Trump's trade war, of course, is just one policy in a long list of callous, bumbling, and give-everything-to-the-rich policies that Republicans (and Corporate Democrats) have implemented over the past many decades. These policies have weakened not only farmers, but also middle & low-income Americans in almost every other profession.

The New Deal and the American farmer

During the New Deal, there were many actions performed, policies enacted, and agencies created to help farmers. The Living New Deal has summaries for many of these programs, for example, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Rural Electrification Administration, the Soil Conservation Service, the Farm Credit Act, and the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act.

These New Deal policies & programs saved many farmers from financial catastrophe. For example, in early 1940, the Bureau of Agricultural Economics--today's Economic Research Service (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture)--reported that farmer bankruptcies dropped, from 1,799 for fiscal year 1938, to 1,422 for fiscal year 1939. "The decrease was a continuation of the decline which has been apparent since 1933, when 5,917 farmer bankruptcies were reported" ("Farmers Hold Bankruptcies to 18-Year Low," The Anniston-Star (Anniston, Alabama), April 14, 1940).

In 1938, U.S. Senator Sherman Minton (D-Indiana), highlighted many of the New Deal benefits enjoyed by farmers: greater independence from monopoly forces; increased farm income and purchasing power; increased farm exports; fewer foreclosures and bankruptcies; better soil; more electricity; and, in Indiana specifically, farm family debt was "scaled down 83.3 per cent by the Farm Security Administration" ("New Deal For Farmer," The Hancock Democrat (Greenfield, Indiana), October 20, 1938). (The Farm Security Administration was another New Deal creation, beginning its life as the Resettlement Administration.)

Minton closed by declaring, "The New Deal's agricultural record is a testament of faith in the destiny of the American farmer. With the New Deal, the farmer will continue to go forward to increased security and income and a more stable market."

But today, unfortunately, we might also add that "without the New Deal, the farmer is more likely to be crushed by debt, as well as falling prices, poorly thought-out trade wars, increased depression and suicide, and crop-destroying climate and water-supply changes."

Above: Many tenant farmers (renters) suffered greatly during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. This woman's husband, a former tenant farmer, found a job in the WPA, in Webber Falls, Oklahoma, 1939. Sons of farmers often found jobs in the CCC, and were required to send most of their pay back to their impoverished families. There was also the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act (1937), which helped some tenant farmers by providing low-interest loans. Photo by Russell Lee of the Farm Security Administration, provided courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: Using an Allis-Chalmers tractor to tow a Caterpillar grader, the CCC and the Soil Conservation Service create a terrace to prevent erosion gullying on this farm in Vernon County, Wisconsin, 1939. Wind and water erosion were severe problems for farmers during the 1930s. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

New Deal art by Lawrence Holmberg: "The Black Sun," "The Eldorado," and a "Mystical Landscape"

Above: "The Black Sun," a watercolor painting by Lawrence E. Holmberg (1910-1958), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1937. There isn't much information available on Holmberg, but according to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, he was born in Oregon, 1910, and "maintained a studio in the Montgomery Block in San Francisco in 1935-45." Find A Grave indicates he is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, a veteran of World War II. Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Above: "The Eldorado," another WPA watercolor by Holmberg, ca. 1935-1943. The description for this painting reads: "Illustration of the Edgar Allen Poe story, shows a figure in armor with a lance crossing a wooden bridge, on the far side of which is a covered crucifix and a small adobe church. Fog shrouds pine trees in the background." Image & description courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Above: This watercolor by Holmberg, also created while he was in the WPA, ca. 1935-1943, does not have a title (or the title has been lost to history), but is described as a "Mystical Landscape," with a "robed figure standing in a desert with a bird of prey; in the background a stone circle (like Stonehenge), trees and hills. Dark, overcast sky." Image & description courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

New Deal Art: "Breakdown"

Above: "Breakdown," a lithograph by Paul Weller (1912-2000), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, ca. 1936-1939. Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

How many Americans experienced the above scenario during the Great Depression, as they roamed about the country looking for work? And today, perhaps things haven't changed as much as we'd like to think. For example, in our increasingly unstable gig economy, where worker mobility is essential, "63% of adult Americans... don't have the savings to pay for a $500 car repair," (Business Insider, January 19, 2016). 

Indeed, many working-class people can be devastated with a serious car breakdown, like a failed transmission or a broken timing belt that damages internal engine parts; but if you're born into wealth, auto repairs (or even car payments) will never be a concern. 

Middle & low-income college students also face more stress about transportation than their wealthier counterparts. The children of the wealthy are, quite simply, immune from financially-debilitating auto repairs - and they also don't have to worry about rent or student loan debt. They can attend their courses, study for tests, and take unpaid internships at prestigious organizations with far less stress. When progressives talk about economic injustice, these are the types of things they're talking about. A lot of this caste system nonsense could be eliminated with progressive solutions, for example, free public college, more debt relief, and a higher estate tax.

Until economic injustice in America is adequately addressed, millions of Americans will continue to be crushed by automobile--as well as physical and mental--breakdowns... thereby setting the stage for wealthy charlatan buffoons to seize power with simple-minded slogans, like "Make America Great Again." Unfortunately, these slogans won't pay for your new $3,000 transmission.

New Deal Art: "Flynn's Barn"

Above: "Flynn's Barn," a color lithograph by Russell T. Limbach (1904-1971), created while he was in the WPA, 1939. Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the University of Michigan Museum of Art.