An American town: A self-portrait: Wausau [5]

An American town a self-portrait. Good times and bad is the fifth in a series of programs on the history of Wausau Wisconsin. Beginning with the years prior to the Great Depression. These programs are edited from interviews with residents of the community. To hear about some of the early diesel car business and then call it the first on the field in my life that my father was like your father your own list of how much pretty forward you never wanted to be the first of the courier to be on the front. Very much that this area was a chart of what it was that flyers will build. They were thinking about manufacturing that car those adventures with you know those are just crazy to play that card it would never be a successful operation to get into your restart my dad about 19 20.

He took the distribution of the Franklin automobile that we had many doctors in market with it. Frank Burns and it was so good Dr. Jones. Then we had Pratt Louie Louie PRATT We had them attorneys and so when we saw a lot of foreign cars around that field in the in the in the 30 to 35 was when they quit trying to quit and that's when my dad and brother adequate I got out of the out of the business in 29 when the crash. Now a very exciting thing that happened up in Boston right in 2011. President clues came here present who came here to help the American Legion celebrate their state convention one of the things that I remember as a parade was led by a LH hall with a Chrysler

convertible. Behind that came a herb all through the season every six pack or there was a certain passive touring car and then and then no I came I had this use your Secret Service part of the Secret Service man and I have the rest of the Secret Service men know that I gave in a fragmentary car. The Franklin automobile failed because it was not built for speed and this was the era of gangsters. Prohibition. And the chase. She member of the story joined in wonder. In the big shoot out. Of the north of here. We had a detective on the police force. Who was going

to catch no injure and one time he found a car with a couple submachine guns in it. And ammunition rifle with all sorts of what he. Found out from the garage attendant. That is some pretty tough looking characters have gotten out of the car and gone or the little dell. So he went over. Found out what room they're in. Got the police put a cordon around the hotel in the four o'clock in the morning the arrest of the FBI. Back during prohibition. There was considerable drinking Speakeasies and there's a barber here. Too many of the prominent citizens went. Who. Found a source of real good stuff just off the boat. So they are kicked in. A substantial sum of money and he went. To get this. He was gone for several weeks and he came back he was brown as can be. And in what they're talking about it seems that he had

amnesia he said and found himself with a big pocket full of money down in Miami and they couldn't prosecute him because it was illegal his debt with him he is booming at the rest of his life like a Cheshire. Well I thought that was the same here we had the banks knowing they had all I know and we had the letter probably going on we have to get people out there and all the big events ride roughshod park and street art that people out there many people want to go in our own automobiles and that now stretches and had a crew out there. The shop was also a good place to start work out of you. He had like a sort of generic user who is. Selling one couldn't get him to go to work. I kept getting there will take quite a while working. He said I said well what really it was during Prohibition he says well he said can you get all of the books. I said that I got to get I wasn't boozed up one of the guys who brings a card in here. They had anybody come in and let me know.

So he called me up. He said Vicki said you're in luck. He said I just had Archie hate. Direct TADS and he just came in here but I wasn't course one of those I don't know where he got the food at fancy labels on the bottles. They're all in kind of a company I suppose. Jack I had Jack Daniels simple ego problem and you know he did make it that I saw how much it takes for the whole obese $175 you sort of break it up so we got a no show. You mean when they let me in this was.

How it happened. Naturally I wasn't very happy about this and they wanted me. To. Do it. Mr Long says when you can ride with me so I will sit with him. Well it was a beauty contest. How did you catch American company. When I first started work for them I it was a watch box number. That time I graduated from high school with Mr. Schofield I was 909. And so he sort of knew me through the school. He had this opening in this office and asked me to come and take the job. I still go to. I'm still secretary treasurer company.

Already And. I would think about 1935 Maybe but I'm not sure. That's a school field trip to be given credit for that they recognized her ability. Everything that she does she has a good reason for what she does. And there's a woman that will express yourself well in my experience and is preferable. I would say that men may have a general overview what to do but I have found even in that work that you give someone a job to do that takes a lot of detail work that a woman will up match a man every time one she knew what they were attempting to do. I think she can analyze the details of it and carry on the girl but I graduated from high school when I was 15.

So you see I was quite young when Irene started to work rather well for black America. I went to the. Columbia School is up in this area. There's a two room school. And there was a brother and sister who were the teachers. Mrs. Shields had been married for one day because she got married and went to most need to live on the first day she was on the farm or husband went into town and bought two axis nuking banks. She was to help clear the land and she says nothing doing she was just there for one day and there her brother was great as a poker pure white hair. He'd traveled a great deal in this in the summer vacations. So annoyed every once in a while during the day he says now rest your minds a little bit you put your books away and then he back and forth and and tell us all about his travels and then he also brought his fiddle to school so he'd sit down and play. And away he was a real character and he he pushed me from the 3rd through the 6th

grade into years and he was very good in public relations and he'd come around he go and visit all these homes and keep people interested in school he was a remarkable man. You know you got that meeting that I didn't get from the law. Well not exactly leave I went. I left to go to the universe to make some study there. I think with 1916 when the war broke out. Everybody got restless you know about being in school. And the State Council of Defense of Illinois wanted a patriotic person to come down to work for them and so when they told my name Miss Pearson I think Mr. Entwistle thought I was English. He says I thought that that was a person he wanted to hire. So for a number of years or and so was Samuel Grady

and he was wonderful to work for and maybe people generally are aware what he was famous for later on. Well they're manipulating stocks of course but I never thought he was crooked. Never struck me as a very fine man. I liked him he was the president President of the Commonwealth Edison Company at the time but he donated his time to the Consul's defense. Oh I had to I was more or less a purchasing agent I would say. Kept from the book. So we had many experiences there meeting so many prominent people. John L. Lewis used to come in they had great conferences with him in on the coal miners and you would you could hear a device booming all over the building when they were talking. When you went back to the lumber What was your dad again. Pretty much the same as it was before.

Argue fair going back to the depression that. Well we have to pull in our horns make do. We never had to shut down completely. Short hours. I've heard from other people that there was considerable labor disruption that was off. There are no wild guess. Yeah I can remember one strike and I'm not too sure I think it was though before I went to work for them. But I can remember a vacant house in the neighborhood where they boarded the strikebreakers they brought in strike breakers to break the strike come from out of town somewhere I don't know where they came from. I was on a rip off my rip career. For the loss of Fox Company.

I was years ago and I wanted to work there. What was your work or would you say. So I want to say they were there with the water bottles on bikes by George Turner and George Turner was a Democrat bill Scofield was a Republican president. Your governor was vice president. I was getting three cents an hour. Thirty cents a day and the men that were ripping and cutting off they would get up to about seven maybe eight cents an hour. Never did top wages for the buckshot. I don't think an auto rickshaw for Crete cents an hour and the older fellows they told us to strike for 35 cents a day and they got us to strike for us kids when we were only 12 and 13 years ago and about twenty two of us. We stood by the punch clock when the boss came over. I can feed a smile on his face yet

when he saw us standing there and he said why didn't you phone to work. And one of the boys said we want to raise each of the Punchout bunched up front about it should not go back to work except the fact that you feel as good you could handle it. So we went back to work and nothing about the raid. But on big day we did get a nickel ring that's about a half a cent an hour. I understand that you were also involved in the Socialist Party. I would think so we have had a party in town here but it wasn't a big town folks thought it was. There was only seven of us in the party. That one year we had it down pretty so I think we're going to come out of the war. We had we had live a backer. We have somebody on the floor to stick it in every office.

Well I didn't want to run. I joined the paper one night when I come home from factory to have the meeting and I would run on alderman to provide her a need tour. And then when I came to the factory My boss was a good friend to us and he said mark so he said you know how the old man you remember the old school feel. He said he made up of mine that if you get elected on a forklift ticket you will have to look for other work. I says All right I will never get elected anyway. But he said I want to work for it no more and I said I'll think it over. So why right then and there I never asked a man to vote for me. I didn't even vote for myself. I didn't let my wife go to the polls and then when the election was over I would beat by one vote. I could have tied up with my book. My wife could have put me over. Did you ever feel bad if you didn't know you were going there.

No no I would think I quit after that. How I feel when I quit I I was truly the shortest party after that. But you would say that those who voted socialist. Were not socialist from the logical point of view I believe that to be true. Somewhere of course you know a lot of a lot of the German people who settled here were actually you know they were not Prussian heel clicking types they were actually more liberal in the German 48 or tradition I suppose conversely. Right exactly and they were a vender and congenial. Perhaps with the progressive movement did you find any of those those kinds of people. We had a progressive move. When I came here in 1923 there was no Socialist Party there was a Republican Party and the Democratic Party. But there weren't enough Democrats

to amount to anything. Cracker everybody is Republican. You either a progressive Republican or a stalwart Republican. He ran on the Republican ticket there's nothing on the ballot to distinguish one from the other. But you had to announce yourself as a dip as a progressive or a stalwart. And. The Progressive. Fortunately we're in the majority and I believe that those people who had formally voted for the Socialist ticket or got back to where they had been before. And voter progression when I was a kid about 10 years ago my dad took me to a political party the candidate was William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley and on the way home I was with my dad I wouldn't he took me to the planet. I know we won't I said to Dad I just know you're bored when are you going to vote for me for McKinley. He normally says I'm going to vote for joining Brian

Jennings Bryan a smarter man than McKinley. He know not exactly book smart man but he says if you're running for president that runs on the Democratic ticket they promise you a whole loaf