Les Rice 1948
Rice was an apple grower in Newburgh, New York, one-time president of the Ulster County chapter of the Farmers Union, and was introduced by Pete Seeger at a hootenanny not long after writing the song.
Pete Seeger: Banks of Marble
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKhvT5B0IeE
I’ve traveled round this country From shore to shining shore It really made me wonder The things I heard and saw. I saw the weary farmer Plowing sod and loam l heard the auction hammer A knocking down his home Chorus But the banks are made of marble With a guard at every door And the vaults are stuffed with silver That the farmer sweated for l saw the seaman standing Idly by the shore l heard the bosses saying Got no work for you no more I saw the weary miner Scrubbing coal dust from his back I heard his children cryin Got no coal to heat the shack I’ve seen the people working Throughout this mighty land l prayed we’d get together And together make a stand Final Chorus Then we’d own those banks of marble With a guard at every door And we’d share those vaults of silver That we have sweated for