The Washington times., 1921-04-05
and one for which had demonstrated
my fitness by my German study.
CHANCES AGAINsT HIM.

! studied there, and l kept house ana
hunted positions or Jobs. Finally the
Montclair Realty Company. q closed
corporation. owned by our family
(Holmes) paid sufficient dividends 20
that ] thought / could go to Cali
fornia and start-a chicken ranch and
be free of arbitrary employers. I went.
in February. 1913. Helen staying and
studying. She had been q great com
fort In these times, for ! was very
despondent at times. and felt the
world was against me. and had no
use for me.
"The philosophy Of the unempleyed
seized me-that . nam Has = night
10 . job IL his uneADleymeAt IL not
due to causes net entirely his swn
fault. He Has . right to . job, or
one, and with allowances In degree.
for the AifAeulty sf the problem %
society. (Where temporary unenDIoy-
meat IL recurrent. aAA wages higher
therefore, ~ In the bulldin1 traAeA
then the distrihutton Of this total
Income II his responsibility, which
had better be aided by unenDloynent
Insurance sehemes.) But ! an net
going to dlscuAs Unemployment In
all its aspects.
"FOR INIQUITIEs OF OTHERS"
THE aspect which stung me. was
that /, OF proven ability, proportion
ate to my position, had been de-
prived of that position In practi-
cally. of any position, in any way
keeping with my ability and expert
ence, because Of arbitrariness Of one
man (that cur Wicker). and lack OF
discipline in my students. l am not
a perfect disciplinarian by nature.
k..S - -. ~ n Avv1
acted improperly. that Is their fault.
not the Instructors. / was bruised
for the iniquities of others. and the
vote Of the world was. derived from
its action of not employing me.
My capital proved too small to
enter even chicken ranching except
under the greatest handicap. ! lived
with my wife's parents. doing things
that / trust, made me little of q
burden, and became close friends
with that fine and capable character,
my wife's mother. l met Professor
Adolph C. Miller, of the University
of California, economics department.
under whom I had studied. and at
last secured the sop or "toe-hold" Of
position as an assistant, at $500 q
year.
Hoping that a permanency of bet
ter things would develop. l started to
buy the home i still own in Bereeley.
where my wife and ! lived, renting
the upstairs. furnished, to several
teachers, my wife teaching In the
Presbyterian mission in Chinatown.
San Francisco. / teaching, perhaps,
one-third Of my time, and. incidental
visiting all the accounting. invest
ment and railroad traffic courses in
the. department. My economic train
ing heretofore had not been largely
along applied or business lines. This
year I laid the foundations of later
success in business teachings. I was
not given larger opportunities in the
department, and this rankled with
me, as / was undervalued for reasons
knew not of by the acting head.
Prof. Plehn.
AT the end OF the year or before
| took civil service examinations
with these results: State examination
for expert and special agent, Bureau
of Labor Statistics; first place in
written examination. second place
after the oral Interview had given
opportunity to boost a favorite in
sider' and politician higher: similar
position, national service; fifth place:
State examination, bank examiner:
first place by a good margin over a
field of about fifty-five candidates,
including practicing accountants of
years standing, bank clerks and Off
cials OF years experience, and several
bank examiners in the service on tenn
porary appointment.
BECOMES BANK EXAMINER.
T had never worked in . bank,
but I had studied hard. and to good
advantage. and had a strong founda-
ton in accounting. Prof. Hatfield.
under whom 1 took tho accounting.
indicated that he thought I had ex-
traordinary analyzing and investiga-
ting powers, and q broad general
grasp of accounting. I took the ex-
aminations OF Mr.. Forbes. c. p. A.,
managing partner Of Haskins & Sells
San Francisco office. in his course In
auditing and cost accounting. and was
the only one to secure q first second
I'm cither-securing this mark In both.
81 had accepted a position to teach
business in whitman College. but Sc
cured my release when 1 was offered
position as bank examiner. / began
this work in August, 1914. My supe-
riority in the examination was not as
patent in the office work. l had
much to learn.
But was learning fact, and sd-
justing well, when the superintendent
OF banks, william r. Williams. dis
covered what he considered an act
in excess of my authority. This was
really, in the main, certainly under
the general instructions given me by
his CHIEF deputy, to acQuaint my
self with the office generally. But I
was transferred to routine work, in
part, and by December I was ousted.
81 had been lecturing on banking
before the American Institute of
Banking. under the University Ex-
tension department. I had resigned
my part-time assistanceship. Mr.
Williams had promised me that
should be retained IL l could do the
work. I think that there can be no
question but that / met this test.
He was a German In type, auto
cratic and arbitrary, and again I suf-
fered injustice and, in, Chinese phrase,
ate bitterness
JOINS Federal. CHILD SERVICE.
Luckily, an offer by telegram very
shortly from the Federal Children's
Bureau for me to come as hrat re-