Imperial Valley press., 1938-05-13
WHITE COLLAR
WORKER TELLS
.OF STRUGGLES.
(Continued from PAGE I

future than ever before. Like one
who has been so close to death thaU
he knows what it is like and no
longer fears it, loss OF Jop holuS
no terrors for me. l have oeen 10
the bottom and come up ana
could do it again
Martins attitude Is even more
remarkable in view OF the TACT that
loss of his job and subsequent ex-
periences on relief cost hlm MS
home and family. He claims
minimum of bitterness and rancor
toward the world, but tell-tale
creases scared into his face and
certain hardness about the jaw line
tell their own story
Martin married early in 1881.
Soon afterwards he gave up his
Job as accountant with an eStab-
lished firm in Los Angeles and took
another position with a new COM
pany, which folded up few months
later. The depression came with
rush. Before he knew it there were
no jobs for accountants, and that
was the only field he knew.
Il had a modest savings account,
some property and a car. When my
savings were used up and my prop
erty sold | let the car go. In the
n. eantime l haunted every office
that might use me. 1 knew it was
useless to try for any other skilled
position, for which l was not fitted
I Money Dwindled
Every day my capital dWindled
and each night when | came home
/ it was a little harder for my wife
to appear cheerful l could feel her
respect for ME slowly wasting away.
Al went back to those offices
again and again and again, until
had to force myself to go in,
because 1 knew what the manager
was thinking when he saw neon
hell, here's that damned Martin
again"
At the end OF his rope, he fought
his way onto work relief rolls by
exercising all the pull at his
command. The first day, unused tC
shovel work under a hot sun, he
passed out cold. The second day
he learned to take it easy.
Until two years later, when he
wormed his way into the relief Of
fices in executive capacity by wire
pulling and determination, Martin
lived hop skip and jump life His
first child was born while Martin
was swinging a pick. After a perioo
of slight prosperity as chief clerk
on big relief project, he was back
in line, waiting ior work assign.
mentS. Politics got him the clerk
job, politics uSnered him out. II
was then that he decided to become
a carpenter.
Moved North
Nobody III his right senses WOulC
have hired me as carpenter" Mar
tin admitted. Il could drive a mai
but rough work was all l knew
However, l was frantic to get away
from pick and shovel and relief
and 1 had given up all hopes OF
going back to accounting. A few
odd jobs in Los Angeles and
decided to try San Francisco.
In the meantime, my wife OBJ
tanned a civil service job and was
self supporting. Her respect for me
was gone completely and with il
> our home. She was capable of TAX
ing care of our child. I wasn't. Sc
1 left"
In San Francisco Martin ran into
closed doors on every hand. Union.
laughed at his pitiful tools anC
stories OF how he could do rough
work. A woman secretary at al
American Legion job agency turned
the tide.
You aren't a carpenter and you
never will be-" sne told him. Cal
on these companies and try to get
back at your old job Martin call.
ed. He didn't get job at first
bnt his heart was lifted, for en-
ployers talked to him where before
they had waved him away. A week
later, In Los Angeles, he found ar
old friend had risen to manager
OF an accounting firm, hit him fol-
a job and has been working ever
since.
Regarding other white cola,
workers who stood in the work
queues, Martin had this to say:
Half or more of the white col
lar men who ran up against what
L did will never come back. They
are too old to keep on fighting
That constant No work. buddy
drums itself into your very being
until you are good for nothing ex-
cept relief. Up to 40 they can stand
it. Beyond 40 they can't"