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Land of Plenty, c. 1935 by Lucienne Bloch Woodcut This print expresses one of the ironies of wealth in America. High tension wires were a new and unusual feature of the American landscape, brought by the Rural Electrification Administration, established in 1935. But the electrical power, placed here behind barbed wire, was useless to the rural poor, who could not afford it. The abundant cornstalks, also placed out of reach behind barbed wire, are probably a reference to a controversial program of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration which supported the destruction of crops to drive up prices, even though record numbers of Americans were starving. |