Henderson daily dispatch., 1937-01-13

DaguerrOrtOype: Johnny is 23, unmar-
ried, and possessed of some $4,000, 900
which he inherited from his father.
Each evening at six he changes into
a dinner jacket and if possible he
changes again into white tie and tails
for the later portion of the evening.
He is to be found in the Stork Club
every night, or rather every morning
between one and two. At lunch he is
to be caught either at "21' or at the
Colony. He is handsome, reasonably
lierate and personable. At the mo-
ment at least three young women are
eager to marry him.
Johnny is glad to let it be known
that he thinks" He is extremely
labor conscious" He reads The Ma
ton and The New Republic. He owns
several thousand shares of General
Motors stock, yet he thinks the cor
portation is acting very badly not to
grant any and all demands of any and
all union careeriSts who stake out
claims in the motor industry. His
ownership of General Motors stock
does not bias him at all; he retains
his social consciousness to the hilt
Johnnys father was a reprehensible
old rascal with a lot of outdated
ideas. The only labor consciousness
Johnnys father ever had was forced
upon him by ten to fourteen hours a
day of work, which, rather revolving
ly, he never complained about-even
in the beginning when he made So
a week in a railroad machine shop
from eight to eight-and even seemed
to like. He built railroads later; he
pioneered new industries. He had the
misconception that life was a fierce
and joyous struggle with high rewards
for the winners and the same end,
after ALL for winners and losers alike
where one horizon stacked all dusty
shoes.
Johnnys father never would have
donned a full-dress suit, would have
been bored stiff by the places John
ny goes nightly. He took his relaxa-
ton in saloons with sawdust on the
floor. Laboring men liked him, laugh
ed at his stores, respected his fists:
they did not sect in him an enemy
or one who exploited them, as any
writer for the New Republic could
have told them heg was. Some of them
even believed, with deplorable sop
histry, that they might not have their
jobs if he hadn't plunged into new
enterprises, backed them and develop
ed them with his shrewdness and his
daring and his urs1iagging lust for
life.
It is very unjust that Johnny him
self, with the best interests of work.
ing men always at heart, isn't very
popular with working men. 1t is a de-
pressing irony that they should have
preferred his fathers company, when
it is a fact that if Johnny's father
were alive today he would be shout
ing that the striking motor workers
ought to go back to their jobs with
the certainty that a booming indus
try had more rewards for them than
any conceivable strike organizer
could offer Of course it would be
clear that Johnny's father was merely
thinking about his. own stock in his
lock box; Johnnys father was always
a selfish man.
But JOB my has one consolation. He
knows that men like his father are
are getting scarcer every day. The
breed is dying out. An enlightened
public opinion has stalked them down
and pulled them out of high places
He is somewhat ashamed to think
that he is descended from one of
those exploiters. But some fine morn
ing he will wake to know that they
have all been put down by statute
and by rope if necessary Then John
ny can live in his kind of world.
--