Grandpa's Life Adventures and Polemic.    by Ludwig Steiner

      There was a bakery on 3rd Street in Hoboken, I went into it and asked the owner if he would trust me with a loaf of stale bread a day until I had a job, and he said that he would. I went there every evening for about two months.

      The witness I had when I became citizen bought a house and land in Fair View and hired me as caretaker at $20 per month. At the end of the month I went to Hoboken to pay part of my rent and also see my baker. He was surprised to see me again and when I asked for my bill he said that I owe him nothing, but he wanted to know why I asked for stale rye, and why I came in the evening. My explanation was that stale bread was less valuable to him than fresh bread, that rye bread fills the stomach better than white bread, and that half a loaf was my supper and the other half my breakfast. But what about dinner? Well there may be a chance to take a friends schooner to the lunch counter for a plate of soup or sandwich, and lunchmen too have known the pangs of hunger. A distant relative of the boss that came from Germany got my job.

      A friend of mine who lived on an abandoned grain boat on the Hudson River invited me to help him fish for Eels. On a long line we tied short lines about a foot long and 8 feet apart. On each sort line was a fish hook baited with fried steak. Eight pound were needed to bait 1,000 hooks. Top round steak was 9 cents a pound and bottom round 7 cents. We used the 7 cent steak being cheaper, but the eels preferred the other, being softer.

      The line was coiled in a box and bait laid side by side for easy unrolling. Every 50 hooks 400 feet we added a weight. One time we started our line opposite the Power House in Yonkers, and dropped the end of our line not far from the Brass Factory in Hastings. We had 138 pounds of eels according to our scale. We sold them in saloons in Hoboken, 2 pounds for 25 cents. That was our biggest catch. A Hoboken saloon keeper gave me permission to use his flat bottom motor boat. To gain time we towed the eels in a box to Hoboken and drowned about 80 pounds of eels that nobody wanted, and we knew no smoker that could smoke them. The buyers wanted live eels, and it was hard to keep them alive during peddling, but a little salt sprinkled over them made them squirm as (if) they had just come from the River.

      I heard that a job was open in a prominent Club on Washington Street, and I was in haste to get there, and was hired. Wages $20 with room and board. The new club house was about one year old. Among its members were clerks, businessmen, and members of law and government. I am in luck.

      There was a large barroom, a gym, and lodge room and bowling alleys. Work was plentiful but I did not mind, and members were friendly. There were 26 brass spittoons for me to clean, and members chewing tobacco made cleaning hard. A mixture of oxalic acid, vinegar, and salt (my own) helped to clean the metal. The 1,000th member was admitted during my employment.

      The thing for me to do was learn, listen, and keep my mouth shut. I was no among the cream of society and it was up to me to learn as much as I could.

      One time a clerk member brought his wife to the clubhouse to have a glass of beer and to show her what a swell club he belongs to. There they met a member, introductions were made, and the waiter was told to bring the wine card. The poor clerk became uneasy, he came here for a glass of beer and now he is hocked with a wine party he cannot escape. That taught him a lesson, he stayed away from then on and coming only when there was open house in the Spring and Fall, and to important meetings and initiations.

      Visits to the Club House were infrequent, they still belonged to the Joneses, but could not keep up with them, and the real Joneses had the clubhouse for themselves, and I had less spittoons to clean. They had two card rooms, and when they played cards, I had to attend to their needs.

      I was seated outside of the card rooms, and had to deliver the order by first knocking on the door, where it was taken from me. One time I knocked at the door, and someone said 'come in'. There was a moment of embarrassment; after I put the tray down, someone asked me if I played cards? I said yes, What do you play? I said pinochle; Is that all? That's the only game I know. Do you know what we are playing? No, I do not. One of the players said, he seems to be alright, let him come in after this. They could see my dull face but not my mind. When the games ended about 3 A.M. I was given $2 for my lost sleep. None of those wise Owls seemed to realize that the dull porter has to clean the card rooms and the poker tables.

      Another poker game I witnessed in a saloon, in which the proprietor was a player. One of the players who had lost quit and left. Sometime later the phone rang and proprietor rose to answer and then said: Hurry, put your cards away, and your drinks on the table. Soon after the former player came with a Policeman, claiming that he had played poker here and lost a lot of money.

      There was no evidence that a game was played and no arrest, but the cop told the informer that if there was, he would be arrested too for being a party to the game. Later the proprietor said: I am paying for protection, and I expect to be protected. This is America, first they maintain a police force to protect them, and then they bribe the police to warn them and protect them from the law.

      An election is held and Steiner has been nominated by his party as Tax Commissioner. Candidates were instructed as to their rights and can be present at poll during and after voting.

      There were many party's, Democrats, Republicans, Socialists, Socialist Labor, Prohibition, and others. Each Party had a single ballot. You enter the poll to vote, but find only two tickets on the table, Democrat and Republican. You asked about the other ballots and are told: Whats the matter, aren't those ballots good enough for you? No, they are no good enough for me. I am a Candidate and unless you have all ballots on your table I shall close this poll.

      Why in hell didn't you say that you are a Candidate, and what in hell ticket are you on? You keep watch on this poll, and as soon as they see your face at the door, the ballots reappear on the table. Outside the poll about 50 feet away stands the ward heeler with his pockets full of silver dollars, and a ballot already marked for you in case that you cannot read.

      Campaigns are held in halls, with brass band, beer, and free lunch. The Speaker is on the platform, and you want to ask a question, there is a henchman on the platform whose purpose is to handle questioners. You ask a question and are ignored, you walk up to the speakers platform, and the band gets the signal, and the noise from the band drowns you question and awakes the dead. There is no roughhouse at those meetings, the opposition could use it to their advantage, you know.

      The Walsh Act is passed, and the Hoboken Republicans want and advocate for the Commission form of government; Socialists and Democrats are against it. The Socialists ask and are granted the High School Auditorium for a meeting favoring the Council or present form of Government. The Democrats had two big signs painted, mounted on a wagon drawn by two horses, advertising the Socialist Meeting in the High School.

      A new Post Office is being built in Hudson County, and I got a job as laborer. The granite cornice of the building had a grove about 1 inch wide and 2 inch deep, the copper for the roof is to be fitted into the grove, then filled with lead wool and then pounded solid. I was given a pail with coarse sand, told to fill the grove half full and put a string of lead wool on top and be sure to pound it down. If the sand was used to do a better job, or is used because it is cheaper than lead wool, and adds to the profit of the patriotic contractor, the dumb laborer does not know, and it is non of his business anyway.

      I heard a beer collector ask the saloon keeper if he knew of a man that could row a boat, and make himself useful at a Boat Club. The saloon keeper referred him to me and said that I not only was able to handle a row boat, but had worked for a Boat Club before. I got the job. I had about 30 motor boats under my care, row owners to and from their boats, keep the Club House clean, serve drinks to members, and bring refreshments to their boats. Wages $10 per week, and a cot in the attic for me to sleep. Food I had to buy and prepare for myself. The biggest boat in the fleet was a sail and motor boat, about 32 feet long, and owned by 3 members. One time I was asked if I would do some repair to their sail and rigging, and I told them that I was no sailor. They asked if I know some one who could. No, but I think that I could find one in Hoboken that could. I was told to go and get someone that can do the work, have it done, and they would pay me for my expenses. I went to Hoboken, found a man able to do the work, he asked $1 a day and board. The work was finished to the satisfaction of the owners, and my bill to them including board at $5 a week was about 70 dollars, but no mention of pay.

      I had a chance to go on the trial trip of a battleship with a chance of earning better pay, and quit my job, but had not been paid by my boat owners. One was a wholesale Ice dealer, on a Bank clerk, the third a Real Estate Operator. When I came to one he sent me to another, the Bank clerk told the guard to throw me out, the Ice man I could never see, and the Real Estate man gave me $5 when I told him that I had no money and was desperate, with the understanding that this was not pay, but as a favor to me and for pay for boat see the other two; and 5 dollars was all I got from those honorable citizens and shining lights of their communities.

      When I lamented about those 3 cheap crooks, I was told why I did not put a lien on the boat? I had never heard that word before and did not know if it meant something to eat or wear. My admiration for American principles has cooled considerable since 1899.

      I found a job as watchman in a glucose factory. As Watchman I had to work 12 hours for 2 dollars, while laborers were paid $1.75 for the same time. It was all leg work. I was given a time clock and a revolver, and had to make my round every two hours. It was mostly stair climbing, 96 during the night. The shortest stair had 11 risers, the longest 21. Many of them on the outside of the buildings, and the cold wind coming from the Hudson almost blew me off the stairs.

      The one room I dreaded most had a boiler with a large pan on top. The boiler was fired with sulphur, with a big pile in front. I kept my mouth shut and my nose with one hand while I punched my clock with the other. And there stood a Hungarian fireman 12 hours for $1.75. He looked as yellow as the sulphur, and when I warned him about his health, he said he is sending money home to help pay mortgage and taxes on his fathers farm, and in 3 months he will try to get a job in the country. He died before the 3 months were up. No native son of Columbia will take a job like this, what have we got these foreigners for?

      I have been on the trial trip of the new U.S. Battleship Utah, built at Quincy, Mass., and as shipping is good, back on the docks.

      We had an accident. A member of our local Union Fritz L. while taking off hatches, fell into the ships hole and injured his back. At the Union meeting a member made a motion that a carriage be hired to take Mrs L. to the hospital. I objected to this extravagance by calling attention that her home was only 5 blocks from the hospital. What I did not know was that Mrs. L. was paralyzed, and had to be carried to the carriage and to the hospital room. I volunteered as one of the committee, and there laid our comrade with his back broken. All he could move was his eyes. She told us that the time keeper with a retired police captain in the company's employ, came to see her and offered her $75. She told them that it would cost her more to bury him if he should die. They told her to better take that or she may have nothing. Poor Fritz did die, and I do not know how it ended.

      The year is 1913, and I am planning a second trip to the Old Country, the first was in 1906. My passage I was not able to pay but I replaced a deserter, and after landing in Bremerhaven after 9 days I was given the royal sum of 3 Mark.

      While at home with my folks, I was visited by a party, who said that they have a relative in New York, and if I would be so kind and bring them their greetings. I learned, among other things, that their relative is only 4 years in New York, and has already an Automobile in this wonderful rich country.

      How did he happen to hit the jackpot, after 4 years, when I after 14 years could not afford a passage to Germany. Something must be wrong with me and my cranium.

      When I returned I went to the address given to deliver their greetings. That prosperous couple lived in the basement, being the janitors, and he was a hod carrier on a construction job. The family album was shown and the relatives I had met, and among them was the automobile with the family. Father with his derby in his neck, the steering wheel held with both fist, mamma next to him, and the big Ferris Wheel of Coney Island in the background. What an impression that auto made in Germany, and all only for 50 cents. You have to travel far to find a bigger bluffer than the German.

      The ship I returned on was the Grosse Kurfurst, and was told by members of the crew that on the previous trip they helped rescue passengers and crew from the burning Italian liner Volturno. The captain was honored in New York for his heroic deeds by giving orders, and the sailors doing the rescue work were rewarded each with a liter of beer.

      An Austrian prince and his wife have been assassinated in Serbia, and war clouds gather over Europe.

      Shipping was good in 1914 and Steiner was shoveling coal again for the North German Lloyd in Hoboken. We were loading the Kronprinz Wilhelm, not only the bunkers, but the loading rooms as well.

      The ship had two boxes on the foredeck, made from tongue and groove planking (that) it did not have on her previous trip. There was only an open space at the bottom of about 6 inches. Curiosity made me go on my knees and put my arm inside, and could feel a base of something like a machine gun. I knew that fast mail boats had to serve as cruisers in time of war. We worked day and night to fill the loading room with coal, and by morning the ship had disappeared. Stories were told that she had her cabins filled with coal, which was not true. War had been declared, and the ships were tied to the docks with the crew idle, and for a long time. When they signed for the ship, it was from Bremen to New York and back. Attempts were made to encourage them to search employment elsewhere, and many did; but the wise and experienced part of the crew insisted on their contract, and wanted to be returned. Returned deserters were punished with fines, and no the company encouraged desertion for the sake of profit. After the departure of the Kronprinz Wilhelm, the other German ships remained at their docks for fear of capture by the British, and thousands found themselves unemployed.

      Married only a few months, I was desperately in need of work, and opportunities nil.

      I had known a butcher in the town of Monroe N.Y. for whose brother I once worked. I sent him a letter asking if there was a chance for work there; he replied to come and something will be found. While waiting for work I did odd jobs at his place to earn my room and board.

      Both the butcher and his helper were fond of firewater, and a gin mill only three doors below. One day they butchered a hog, and made bologna. While at the supper table, the butchers wife, a resolute little woman, asked if the barn had been locked, no answer, she quickly took the plate of her husband and his helper and said supper will be resumed after the barn has been locked, and the helper was to do so. When he returned he said to his boss: Fred, what have we got in the liverwurst? Why ask such foolish question? Because the liver is still hanging in the barn.

      I decided then and there to become a vegetarian during my stay in this house, and made the announcement that if I don't find employment by the end of the week I shall depart and try other towns. At the end of the week he found a job for me as a carpenters helper. One day while at his store, he introduced me to one of his customers and said he is also a socialist like you. The comrade was a former reverend, and now owned a dilapidated farm near the town, he also published a monthly paper the size of a leaflet called the Open Letter. He also informed me that the owner of the local hardware store and a plumber were also comrades.

      Now that we were four socialists in town, lets find a fifth and start a branch; and a fifth was soon found and he claimed to have Indian ancestors. Clergyman and plumber were of Irish descent, the hardwareman of Swiss and I of German. We were international but of one faith. The next question was where can we meet. The plumber said that there was a room over the candy store, that could be had for $5 a month. The hardwareman offered to advance the first months rent, but we needed chairs, so the comrades provided their own and the butchers wife presented one to me, more chairs were to be bought at public auctions.

      The comrades came with their wives, some donated a cake that was auctioned, proceeds to go for rent, and small donations were made at the meetings.

      There was one drawback, our meeting room had no lavatory and it was necessary to look for another meeting room. The top floor over the local drug store was for rent. It had a large room for meetings and lectures, a smoking room and a partitioned kitchen, the lavatory was on the floor below, and the rent $10 per month. Will we be able to raise the rent? We will try. We shall hold lectures, make collections, and ask the women to help. There came more chairs and tables, the women donated coffee, milk, and sandwiches to be sold for five cents after lectures.

      A member reported that a piano can be had for $25. If we had a piano we could have a dance after lectures and more attendance. We got the piano and it was soon paid for. We held meetings in the local opera house with national prominent speakers in the winter. The hardware comrade owned an empty lot next to the post office, and suggested to have a billboard erected, with a speakers platform behind. A local lumber yard donated the material, and Steiner, who had a job as carpenters helper, was elected for the construction.

      The location was ideal, the people tolerant, and the meetings well attended. There was no disruption as in Hoboken.

      If you really want to know your fellow American, you will have to meet him in small country towns. You will find him or her to be kind, considerate, and helpful and it makes you feel proud and happy to live among them.

      The year is 1916 and I had been working with the carpenters for two years and tried to learn as much as possible; I had learned the metric system in Germany, and yard, foot, inches and fractions were hard for me to grasp.

      My mechanic was to build a cupola on a five car garage, and did not know how; neither did I but he was paid $3 and was supposed to know, while I was paid $2.25 and not expected to know. In his anger he had thrown his hammer far from the roof and ordered me to go and bring it back to him. I refused because the hammer did not fall, but was thrown deliberately off the roof. "You go and bring my hammer damn you, I am the mechanic and you are my helper to do as you are told."

      That young scalawag is paid $3 and don't know his business. Maybe with the aid of books I could learn as much as he knows. I sent $1.33 to Sears Roebuck in Chicago for two books on Practical Carpentry to learn how to build a cupola; later I sent for two more books on The Steel Square and It's Uses; and a year after I could show my proud mechanic a few tricks of the trade he did not know.

      The war in Europe had lasted two years and our country is making propaganda for preparedness. Socialists are pacifists, and against war and war preparations.

      The clergyman comrade recommended that a sign be printed and posted on our billboard. I was to print the sign, the hardwareman to furnish the big sheet of wrapping paper, and the reverend the slogan, it said: 'The American General William Dent Grant said: "I do not know of a war within the last three hundred years, that was caused by a soldier, or soldiers ambition. All wars are wars for trade, they are caused by bankers, merchants, and businessmen."'

      The Reverend suggested that the sign be pasted on the billboard and it was a wise suggestion. When I went to the Post Office a few days later I found it bombarded with dirt and cow manure, I am not certain about the latter, it may have been from a bull. The people said it was boys pranks and indifferent towards preparedness.

      A local election was held, and our party had candidates for local offices. Only property owners were eligible to vote. Our hardware comrade who was also a bible teacher ran way ahead on the ticket with 142 votes compared to the 30 or 40 votes for the other candidates. Which proves again that the American voter prefers a candidate to party principles.

      I was working with others on the new Tuxedo garage on April 7, 1917 when we learned the sad news that our pacifist president, who was only re-elected five months ago because he kept us out of war, had declared war on Germany.

      Why it was necessary to be prepared, while the rest of the world was busy in self extermination had never been explained to us. Now that we are in it, everybody wanted to be helpful. Society women made trips to the country to show the farm wives how to cook and economize, their daughters became farmerettes but those high-heeled shoes were more hindrance than help and when farmers and their wives ignored the advice given, they gave up in disgust.

      Some of the local citizens went along the Erie Railroad with their double barreled shotguns over their shoulder, and when you asked them if they feared a German invasion, they said no, but if you be on home defense you may not be drafted.

      The women folks hated to see their sons go to war, and their husbands to military camps to earn a living. Prices began to rise rapidly, but organized labor who had signed the contract for the coming year beginning May 1 were tied to their contract.

      All new construction above $2,000 was forbidden, and military camps needed skilled labor, and the army (needed) cannon fodder.

      I, who had passed the union exam, was admitted to local Union 1276 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, found employment at the embarkation camp Merrit near Dumont, N.J. The demand for carpenters was greater than the union could supply. An applicant for membership in the union had to appear before an examination board to prove his qualification before admittance. Would-be carpenters appeared before the employment office en masse to enjoy the wages the union had fought for. A non-union man was given 30 days before he was asked to join the union. Examination was waived during war, and candidate admitted on his word to be a carpenter.

      Contractors worked for Uncle Sam on a 10% commission and were not interested if you know your trade or not. One would-be carpenter came to work with a bone saw, and was told by the Super to bring a carpenters saw or stay at home.

      My Italian foreman, whose English was poorer than mine, asked me to check on material used on the job and also on his 20 men. I declined his offer by telling him that he would be paid for work that I was doing. One of those would-be carpenters asked a dollar from each to buy the super a diamond ring. I offered to give a dollar if he can make the Super to wear the ring on his nose, so that we all could see his present to the super.

      A few days after I was informed by my foreman that his gang was to be reduced and that I was among those to be reduced. Was my refusal to do his work or the Supers diamond ring the reason, I could not learn, but they were hiring carpenters at the employment office.

      Work was plentiful, and I found a job at Camp Raritan, near New Brunswick, N.J.

      It was New Year 1918, and the coldest winter since I came to America. From the first to the eighth of January the temperature was 20 below zero.

      I roomed about a mile from the camp, where I shared a double bed with a stranger. There were two double beds in this small room and we had to climb over the foot end of the bed to get in. How that little Hungarian woman was able to make up the bed, I don't know to this date.

      The trolley cars between New Brunswick and Perth Amboy were so crowded with passengers that the conductor could not turn, and they sat on the roof of the trolley and hung on the rear platform.

      I found another boarding house in Metuchen, it too was over-filled and the old lady at breakfast lifted her dress above her knee, pulled down her stocking, to show us the open sores on her leg, and believe it or not Steiner was not hungry anymore.

      A single trolley car connected Metuchen with the so-called fast line as it was known between New Brunswick and Perth Amboy, known among the workers as the Toonerville Trolley. It's operator was known to us as Gene. He was an easy-going man, and did not care if his car did not meet all trains.

      We were in a saloon one day, and while there, in came Gene for a drink. A fish peddler happened to be in the saloon, and Gene bought fish. We told Gene that we would ride with him to the fast line. When he was ready he told us to board the car, and off we went. We had traveled about six blocks when Gene remembered that he had forgotten his fish in the saloon. As he could not turn, he requested his passengers to watch the read end and warn traffic. All went well, Gene found his fish, and we were again on the way to the fast line. Spring came at last, and I was lucky to have work on the administrative building near the gate, guarded by a soldier.

      It was estimated that about 5,000 workers were employed at the camp, and 400 teams of horses with their drivers. Carpenters wages were 62 1/2 cent per hour, and teams $1 per hour. The new wage scale for carpenters beginning May 1, 1918 was 65 cent per hour or $5.20 for an 8 hour day. Twenty cents more a day over the previous year, and prices skyrocketing. These greedy union men were held responsible for the increased cost of living.

      Truckload after truckload of lumber rolled into the camp, and still lumber was scarce. A truckload of lumber was checked by the military guard as received, and passed another military guard with the note rejected at another gate. Signs appeared on lumber piles saying "Do not touch this lumber". I do not know how much lumber was received nor how much was used, but I could see that something was very bad.

      One day I was sent to the storeroom for an order, and the storekeeper told me that he was breaking up new shovels all day. When I asked the reason he said ask the bum that gave me the order. And that was not the only thing, we have been rolling nails by the keg down to the dumps. And President Wilson requested the carpenters to be economical with material.

      The immigrant worker looks at this deliberate waste with the same understanding as a cow looks at the barn door.

      It was said at that time that for every three soldiers that fell in battle on foreign soil, a millionaire was created at home. What have you flag-waving patriots to say to this?

      An arena was to be built at Bonhampton outside the camp for our boys. A local storekeeper owned a large piece of land, and was asked to rent it for the arena. Being an immigrant from the Balkan States he ordered his daughter to tell them that there was no rent, they could have it free.

      Famous Irene Castle was to appear at one of the shows. Carpenters who had been working 10 hours a day were asked to give their spare time for the boys, and built the arena without pay. Lumber rolled in and carpenters worked till darkness. The former laborer foreman, and now assistant super of the contracting firm of S. and T came around on horseback and insulted the carpenters in a language that would make a Hoboken longshoreman blush.

      The team owners who were paid $1`per hour had to pay a dollar kick-back per day, and later increased to $1.25 by the assistant super. It so happened that one of the team owners balked and was refused work, and he squealed to the authorities. An investigation revealed that our assistant super not only grafted on the teamsters, but was receiving rent for the arena, and wages given free by the carpenters.

      All in all they could prove that he grafted a total of $30,000 and now to prove that our laws are not only in the dictionary, and that we punish the guilty, our super was punished with a fine of $500. Five Hundred from $30,000 leaves a balance of $29,500. Not bad, not bad at all; in Russia he would have been made into a corpse.

      I was still working at the administrative building when another would-be carpenter asked for a dollar to buy our foreman a meerschaum pipe. I told the collector that I was a pipe smoker too, and if the foreman was too poor to buy one, I shall present him with one not meerschaum, but as good as mine. Those miserable creatures unfit for the work they are paid for are asked to finance the bribe at the cost of others to hold their jobs.

      A few days after I was informed by my pipe smoking foreman that he has to send some of his gang to the lower section of the camp, and to have my tools ready in the morning to be taken down by the truck. That meant two more miles to travel each day, and working in the meadows with rubber hip boots, setting footing forms for ammunition buildings. My insolent request about the supers diamond ring caused me the loss of job at Camp Merritt, and ow that meerschaum pipe put me in a worse fix.

      My new foreman happened to belong to the same local union as I. The best job in his gang was held by an elderly Italian carpenter and his two sons. They had their saw-horses under a shade tree making footing forms. Being a native son of Columbia, like most of his gang, I remarked to my partner that our foreman does not discriminate between natives and immigrants.

      He informed me that the shady and easy job is bought with a bottle of wine each day, and that they had him as a guest in Coney Island on two occasions to his knowledge.

      Crooks, grafters, and criminals should be branded on their forehead as a warning to honest people. Checkers came for your number, and to sell you a ticket for a Gillette safety razor. The Red Cross gave you a button for your contribution, and the absence of the button marked you as a slacker. Collectors were thicker than the flys among the chicken guts on that Hudson River railroad float.

      Army officers addressed the workers to induce them to buy Liberty bonds, and told them that a hundred dollar bond was better than a hundred dollar bill, being tax exempt, and the public was scared about those bolshewicki. My partner told me that his wife said if they ever come to our country, she will kill herself and her children. When I told him that they had been here since the founding of our country, he was thunderstruck and challenged me to prove it. I had learned long ago that the best way to improve your knowledge is to ask questions.

      There was a Russian carpenter working with another gang, and from him I wanted to know all about those horrible creatures, and their vile deeds. His explanation was that bolshewiki translated into English would mean majority, and the word menshewiki minority.

      Ignorance and superstition are the weapons to control the mob. That Russian carpenter told me about two Dutch anarchists, which I met later, who save and sent 20% of their wages to Holland to defend a fellow anarchist imprisoned in Holland.

      There was a socialist colony in Stelton near New Brunswick, I visited one Sunday. They bought an estate of about 200 acres, I was told, and colonists could buy one acre and develop their ideas. They soon separated into two groups divided by the main street, the moderate and radicals. One owner I was introduced to had his house covered on the outside with tarpaper and slats, and the inside up to date to protest the crazy tax system, as he called it. If you improve and beautify your home, he said, you are punished with an increased tax. Your home is assessed by the outside appearance, but you live inside the house, and while you save on taxes you enjoy the interior comfort. You may not like your neighbors idea, but you cannot disprove his argument.

      The influenza caused a havoc in this part of the country.

      A last came the long awaited, and unforgettable day to those who lived thru it. Bells rang, whistles blew, bands played, people danced on the street. The war had ended. And I, a former sailor in His Majestys Navy, who had the Articles of War read to him every month for three years, one of which read that cowardice is for the sailor most contemptible and degrading, had to learn that his Berster Kriegsherr (highest warlord) deserted his country in the dark of the night, to seek shelter in Holland. Had he forgotten in his haste that he was Kaiser by the grace of God?

      If one had imagined that no things will go back to normal again, he was mistaken. People had still money and business was after it. There came protests about the high cost of clothing, and living. An overall parade was held to protest the high cost of clothing, without first making inquiries about cost of overalls.

      A pair of carpenters white overalls, made in Newburgh, N.Y. were sold in 1917 for 75 cents, and in 1920 for $4. Lumber in the spring of 1917 sold for $22 a thousand feet board measure, and for $80 in 1920. Was it the high cost of timber growing? In 1926 1,000 feet of lumber sold for $36 while wages had increased.

      I was working on a job in Staten Island, my partner was a fellow townsman, and his wife a schoolteacher.

      A drygoods store on Broadway, N.Y. advertises a penny sale, among the many items was: one silk shirt $8, two for $8.01. Wages $1 per hour. My partner wanted to take advantage of the sale and went to make the purchase. When he came back he showed me his bargain. The silk shirts did have a silk front the size of a mans handkerchief, but at what price. Wages lost $8, shirts $8, Ferry 10 cents, total $16.10. A native son of Columbia, and his wife a School-teacher. Arithmetic P. Patriotism E.

      Newspapers began to tell about the cost of war, war profits, and about the patriotic $1 a year men. No working man was in a position to offer his service to his country without starving and they did not know that they had an expense allowance, so that patriotic service was in the hands of the wealthy to do their part, and they did. One of them, I remember, was Chas. M Schwab, onetime president of the steel or steal trust. His compensation for patriotic service was $1, his expenses $250,000 according to the N.Y. World. The N.Y. World also had a cartoon, showing a well fed and dressed man walking a street, a young girl running ahead of him shouting: Mama, mama, hurry and lock the door, here comes a dollar a year man.

      Of the sacrifices and profits of our industrialists, I shall relate in another chapter.

      Ever since the bolshewiki revolution in Russia, our socialist party has been in a turmoil.

      The national convention of the socialist party in 1919 was held in Chicago, and special 50 cent stamps were issued to defray the cost of sending our delegates in the hope that harmony be restored within our party. The result was disastrous, and the party hopelessly split. Half of the socialist delegates returned as communists, and a national reign of terror began under the Attorney General Palmer.

      Citizens were taken from their homes and beds and charged of being communists, and put in jails, and Ellis Island without a shred of evidence against them. I was working on a construction in Bristol, Conn. and all the roomers in the lodging house next door were arrested during the night, and put in jail. What was the charge against them? Can you be jailed in a democracy for political belief? Only two years ago the American people were frightened with the cry of bolshewiki. What is communism that Attorney Palmer is to fight with terror? The American people don't know and should be informed. Did we not make the world safe for democracy?

      Things began to happen so fast, and so manifold, that I may be forgiven if I did not follow the regular routine. It was not only communists whose scalps Attorney General Palmer was seeking, but socialists as well.

      A Russian girl Mollie Steimer stood on a New York street corner distributing leaflets protesting the entrance of the U.S. into world war. A hysterical judge sentenced her to twenty years in jail. Eugene V. Debs socialist candidate for president of the U.S. was sentenced to ten years, and told his judge:

      "While there is a working class, I am of it, in their struggle for emancipation I am for it, and while there is a soul in prison I am not free." Many other prominent socialists were jailed for the opinion that war was wrong.

      Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name.

      To the credit of the blunderers in authority, it must be said that after partial sanity had been restored, Eugene V. Debs was freed and so was the Russian pacifist girl Mollie Steimer, after taking a three year course on American democracy in a federal jail she was deported to Russia.

      Those liberty bonds that the army officers told us were better than $100 bills, and that Uncle Sam stood in back of them, rapidly dropped in value, and when I used mine to pay for a suit, he politely informed me that the present value was $88 and no army officer was in sight to explain the depreciation.

      I do not know how much further it dropped, but being tax exempt it did not stay down, and went back to its full value after it safely was in other hands, and out of your reach sucker. The late P.T. Barnum said that there is one born every minute in this country, and I was one of them. The Germans have a proverb: saying that you can lead a donkey only once on thin ice, and I have been on it.

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