The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-03-02

uEINdANNS Bar and Grill had an
III eleetric-sign in orange glass, which
glared without life, and a window
display where sleek hams nestled on
the Clipped ice between bottles Of
beer and wine. It was located near
the exact center Of Manhattan, on a
crowded side-street. The place had
recently opened and it was shiny with
white tile tables, oak-varnished
chairs, and a counter Of glass and
nickel, but the equipment was cheap
and hastily made, and within year
it would begin TO look dirtier, tar
nished and cracked. The bosses OF
such establishments always started
with a blare-SouYenirs and red
white-and- blue bunting - and then
gradually allowed the food and SER
vice to grow worse while the prices
erept up, q dime or so. Then, after
the trade fell of, the bosses packed
the place with more fake customers
for two or three days, and allowed
them to be inspected by a proSpec-
tive buyer-another boss, who pur-
chased it, remodelled it, and COM
menced the same process Of syindling
on his own hook.
The time was around p. m. ana
the air raw with Jumps OF ice scat
tered along the walks. Fritz Handler
stopped before Heimann's and looked
into the window. He had been work
ing in a rooming-heuse as q. jsnitor,
with the name OF the Job changed
to Superintendent" a slight joke
originated in the time when office
boys became Junior clerks" and
kitchen-drudges were altered to
fourth-cooks, so that the bosses
could placate the vanity Of their
more backward workers. A week pre-
vious he had been fired because his
boss had secured another man will
ing to work for two dollars less
eight dollars a week-and now he
was down to his last fifteen cents
Well, ten of the fifteen would buy 2
sandwich, anyway He turned and
peered at the picket plodding to and
fro in front of the restaurant. The
picket was q short man with slim
but iron limbs, and a stone jaw be-
low his steady eyes. His clothes we're
loose and mended, and on his back
and chest he carried placards an
nouncing that Heimann's had re-
fused to pay it's workers living ges
and give them decent conditions anc
that they were on strike. Fritz
hesitated and then slouched into
Heimann'S, Aw, what did all these
strikes mean except a cops club or
your face, and then the same lousy
wages after you lost the strike? He
was hungry and he had to eat.
He ordered thin ham-sandwich
at the counter. The man who
punched his check was stolid except
for his eyes, which squinted to catch
glimpses Of the opposite side OF the
street. The eyes we're frightened and
trying to hide it. Fritz sat at a
vacant. rear-table directly jp. front Of
the kitchen and munched at his
handwich. In the middle of the eat
ing he happened to glance down, and
spied a monstrous cockroach over two
inches long. The cockroach fiddled
with the saWdust in a creyice where
the xeAsnleT the floor, and tHen the
insect daFted into the kitchen with
such rapidity that it could scarcely
be seen. The health-inspector had
been fixed and the kitchen was not
oVer-clean. Gagged, Fritz was re-
iuctant to deveur the remains OF
the sandwich, but his hunger per4
sisted and ne ate them, his facf
steeled and little angry. His an
petite was still unsatisfied. since he
had had no food since morning and
men only a couple of douuhnuts. but
ne needed his remaining nickel fol
cup OF coffee just before midniaht
when he intended to tramp back n
the basement where he slept ON q
dirty Observation-Disclosures the
lanitor Of the house was a friend OF
MS and could only sneak him in at
that hour.
ne lett the restaurant and stood a
moment, uncertainty. A COP. tall and
surly, was planted before the window
and when the picket halted. for !
second, to whisper to a passerby the
cop beloved: sFIey, move on youf
heep on moving before I crack YOU
onel" The picket resumed the march
WIN rage on his face. Fritz also