The daily worker., 1933-09-07

the stink was still in his clothes.
But he didn't mind that. 1t would
take more than that to douse his
good spirits. He had worked like a
horse in the fertilizer works all day.
Down in that great big bucket lift
ing heavy parts all by himself. Any
other mechanic wouldn't have done
the job. without a helper. The guano
works always asked for him when
they called up on repair job. He
was fast, especially on rough heavy
work. 1t made him feel big and i'm
portant when Mr.. Mac, the superin-
tendent, said, Mice work, Mike" and
signed his time ticket for a full day
when it was only ten minutes to
three.
Mike walked home with springy
step. He was a husky guy. He didn't
even feel very tired. Honest-no kid
ding-he really loved to work. Only
one thing bothered him little. He'd
have to spend half an hour in the
morning cleaning up his tools. They
had been covered with rust almost as
soon as he had dropped into the fer
tiliZer bucket.
AFTER all, seven thirty wasn't so
n early to be on the job. Mike was
there singing-if you could call it
that-in the same old loudmouth
way. He turned UP his lathe until the
tool became a thickly blurred circle.
That was why Mike was the first
lnachinist on Spies Company's list.
When things were slow-and old man
Spies had been bellyaching about 1t
for two years now-the other men
slackened up as soon as the foreman
turned his back. But Mike never
bothered about that. 1t didn't worry
him at all. There was always enough
work to keep him going. He never
made less than forty-four hours a
week. The other men were not SO
lucky. They stayed around the shop
all day waiting for jobs to come in
Things were getting tight. Mike even
had to do little repair jobs inside
the shop now.
Old man Heinrich used to get this
work. But they gave it to Mike now
so he could get full time. Old man
Heinrich was sore about it. But he
was afraid to say anything. He had
been with the company thirty years
now, He was on his last legs. He
couldn't get another job anywhere
So he took it all and liked it. Some
weeks he was lucky to make six
hours. Mike felt sorry for the old
man. In the good old days Mike used
to kid him a lot. Now old man Helm
rich wouldn't even talk to him. Mike
didn't want to take the old mans
work away from him. But what could
he do? Mike didn't worry about it
Mike was not the kind of guy to
worry about anything.
There was no getting away from
it. Mike was hefty, robust guy, q
happy go-lucky bastard, and a crack
erjack at his trade. He lorded it over
the other guys in the machine shop
But nobody could get sore with Mike
Even with the foreman around he
acted as If he owned the place.
IN Saturday afternoon Mike would
" tinker around with his 1928 Buick
Mike was a natulral-born mechanic
who was always thinking Of some
thing new. After he got through with
his engine he would be able to make
thirty-five miles to the gallon. Ht
had been working on it off and or
for two years now. Oh, no, it wouldnt
work yet. But just wait till he got
a few more things worked out.
Mike always went down to the
"club" on Saturday night. The fell
lows got together in the room ir
back Of Herman's Bar. Mike coulC
put away more beer than anyone else
in the gang. Sometimes when he got
filled up a little he would put on Q
rasslin match for all comers. 1t wa.
funny. He would strip to the waist
take a Jim Londos pose, and stel
into anybody. They would roll al
over Hermans back room and mau
each other But no matter how hare
they knocked each other around no.
body ever got sore.
Mike was the kind of guy yol
couldn't help liking. Everybody go
a great kick out of hearing him talk
And he liked to talk. He had been il
the country for fifteen years now bu
he still spoke with thick German
accent. He talked just like thu
Dutchman in two-reel comedies. Hi!
first name was really Friedrich, bu
everybody called him Mike, which
was short for his last name.
Mixes best friend belonged to tht
gang. Mike had brought him in. HI
had met Hen at the Peerless Shir
Manufacturing Company, where Her
was engineer. Hen was a quiet sor
Of guy. Everybody looked up to him
but he didn't make friends easy. Ever
when he came around-which WASH
very often--he liked to sit in a cor.
ner and talk with Mike He woulc
tell Mike that workers ought to sticl
together against the bosses and tn,
politicians and everybody else whit
did the dirty work for the bosses
1t wasn't clear to Mike how all bosse
could be the enemies of the workers
Wasn't old man Spies good bos
and wasn't Mr.. Mac at the guam,
works nice guy? Mike couldn't fig.
ure it all out and he didn't try very
hard. Hen always complained abou
having lot of meetings to attend
He always asked Mike to 60 to meet.
ings with him to learn more about
what he called the "class struggle.
But Mike didn't like to sit back and