The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-06-18
HE ROSE FROM THE BOTTOM

TO be able to honestly admit that one has not read
Theodore Dresser is no accomplishment
man Of lesser note might hesitate to make such
an admission lest he be cassed among the unlntelli-
gent minority. But when persons reputation is
assured-be it what it maybe afford to take
chance on the heehaws of the multitude. l have
heard Dresser branded as one of foremost novel
lists and-Jehovah forgive me- have boosted his
stocks in many a perilous corner, because OF the
enemies he had made. But l never read word OF
what he wrote until last week. And this is how
the miracle happened
It was rainy day and gloomy the hero of this
tale, wrapped around his breakfast of petrified
country sausage and liquid potatoes, washed down
with two cups of coffee, stuck his battered velour
out into the gusty rawness of Greenwich Avenue
Various signs of life in big city were apparent on
the thorofare: strong men wheeling barrows of
bricks mysterious Cinnamon peering from the fast
nesses Of their laundres at husky brewers deliver
ing needed beer to speakeasies, policemen tickling
their sticks and wondering where the next head
was coming FROM poets coming home from their
favorite subway and women leading babies to the
nearest movie palace-a risky proceeding in the
sterile village.
self across the wreckage of Greenwich Avenue where
Wall Street was boring from within the earth for
more profits thru the medium of another subway
The slaves of the pick and shovel worked as heartily
as if they searching for the lost soul OF an
Egyptian soothsayer Before our hero could analyse
the new situation and draw the correct deductions
from it. he was half way down the subway stairs
There was retreat now so he plunged boldly IN
He had a nickel, dropping it into the greedy
NAV of the money-moloch he clicked and passed by.
Several other customers were the platform. Our
hero being temperamental person could not enjoy
himself standing for train He wanted to sit down
and read. So he went and found seat While in
this position his eyes rested on secondhand copy
of the Herald Tribune. Here luck indeed. He
rlanced rapidly over the political and the sport
sections but the feature page held his attention.
There in bold face was the of Theodore
Dresser. 1t was a situation such as 0. Henry would
like to touch with his magic pen.
1t was the sixteenth and last Of a series Of inter
views with famous men, telling how they. jumped
from pork sausage to vegetarian dinner and what
pin prick of fate iazzed them into the big idea.
Dresser told story and since l read the yarn / am
an incurable Dreiserite. Here was man who was
poor even like of you and all of US. He was
poor up until his 32nd year, was fired from the
New York World for something like neffciency-
could not get good job from Chauneey Depew. He
agreed to start country newspaper. He actually
invested $3.50 with friends to start the paper The
friend had the idea but no dough Dresser happened
to be in the middle Of of his suicidal moods
when the friend popped the question and as people
are always willing to consider an alternative to
suicide he unoaded his wallet went to the country
and almost died when he the country editor
they were purchasing out of business snoring in his
chair while countless flies wandered anaemically
over his countenance
Dresser could see himself as he the editor
five years from then with the flies bigger better
and buster perhaps, since he would be more palatable
fly-food than his predecessor. Dresser pulled out
of the town, leaving his $3.50 without even kissing
it good bye and much to the joy and profit of his
erstwhiIe partner who never able to locate his
stockholder in order to return his investment.
1t was after he fled this country town that
Dresser really began to life. And all you mag
NATIVE thinkers and creative writers who weary
and Of spirit take heart from the life of one
of your own kind. Theodore Dresser, whose name is
now on the lips of every well-informed person be-
tween Christopher Street and the uptown frontier
of civilization from a -dollar-a-week slave
Of the New York Central Railroad to the editorshp
of the Butterick publications inside Of two years
at the colossal salary Of $4,000 year.
Luck did not spoil DRESSER. He does not point
moral but he spins tale He has not started
spondence course in success. lie is artist but
likes a good meal and admits it. The United States
can afford to support few more Dresers.
TT. OF.