Editor, Gazette-Journal:

On Friday, Nov. 4, 1949 in New York City, the following poem was published in the Daily News. It begs to be published again, in our day and time:

Ode to the Welfare State

Mr. Truman’s St. Paul, Minn., pie-for-everybody speech last night reminded us that, at the tail-end of the recent session of Congress, Representative Clarence J. Brown (R-Ohio) jammed into the Congressional Record the following poem, describing its author only as "a prominent Democrat of the State of Georgia."

Democratic Dialog

Father, must I go to work?

No, my lucky son.

We’re living now on Easy Street

On dough from Washington.

We’ve left it up to Uncle Sam,

So don’t get exercised.

Nobody has to give a damn—

We’ve all been subsidized.

But if Sam treats us all so well

And feeds us milk and honey,

Please, daddy, tell me what the hell

he’s going to use for money.

Don’t worry, Bub, there’s not a hitch

In this here noble plan—

He simply soaks the filthy rich

And helps the common man.

But, father, won’t there come a time

When they run out of cash

And we have left them not a dime

When things will go to smash?

My faith in you is shrinking, son,

You little brat;

You do too damn much thinking, son,

To be a Democrat.

Thomas Adams

Cardinal, Va.