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 n 1934, I went to Milwaukee and worked there with
my brother Ed for four or five years at his tire re-capping shop. First I went to another
shop in Chicago to learn how to do the process. I worked there for a week or so, and learned the fundamentals and how to
handle the tire re-capping equipment. Then I came back and worked for Ed in his shop. Eventually, I ran the shop for
him. But we never ever did get along very well. He was not a person to put himself out to talk or be congenial. He just
seemed to have his own thoughts, and, as a result, I could never get close to him.
Starting out, I was making $15 a week and he took $10 out for board and room.
In those days that wasn't too bad an arrangement. He and his wife Isabel lived in Wawatosa, right
outside of Milwaukee. They had a nice suburban home there. Isabel was a social worker with the county. We got along
fine as far as the living situation was concerned. Of course, it was a little bit difficult to be living and working with
him when he was as cold as he was, and hard to fathom. I don't think he meant to be that way, it was just his nature.
I got the feeling as I associated with him that he was a little condescending
towards the family. In my case, for example, he was the big benefactor and he was doing me a big favor -- which he was, of
course, but it was his attitude that spoiled it. He had a circle of friends from the university. At that time higher
education wasn't as common as today. A person with a college education was regarded as an intellectual and looked up to.
Ed had a big circle of friends who seemed to respect him and look up to him as somebody
special.
He was an adverturesome sort. In fact, I learned a lesson from him because
he was a little too adventuresome in business. He would never allow his finances to catch up with his ambition, so he was
constantly head over heels in debt. Instead of setting back, letting the business consolidate and earn some money before
starting to expand, he would expand on debt. That's a popular thing to do in business, but for him, it was unfortunate.
In 1949, while he was pursuing this course, what we called "the Truman Depression" occurred. Today we'd call it a recession.
It was a slow down in business. That happened several years after I left Miilwaukee. So Ed's business didn't materialize
as he had anticipated and, as a result, it folded. This was also partly due to his alcoholism. In view of my brother's
attitude towards my dad, it seemed strange to me that he would allow himself gradually to get into a position where he
could not control his drinking, but he did. I remember times when my dad would appeal to him for help of some sort and
he wouldn't respond. His excuse was that, "Dad would just drink it up." Well, my dad was not an alcoholic, but he was a
heavy drinker. I think there is a distinction. Ed was an alcoholic, and I think that was his undoing as far as business
was concerned. People he was dealing with could have no confidence in a man who would come in to the office drunk.
Consequently, people lost confidence in him. That's my analysis anyhow.
To me, it seemed out of character for a man as intelligent as he was to allow
himself to get in that position. The family talked to him about going to Hazelton, but he wasn't interested. He wouldn't
listen to anybody because he knew better than anybody else. It was his superior attitude that got him into trouble. I
don't mean to say that he was not a good or caring person. Fundamentally, he was a thoughtful person. He did a lot of things
for the whole family. He helped various members of the family at different times. He took two of my sisters to live with
him when they graduated from high school and he tried to help them. And I certainly owe a debt of gratitude myself. He got
me educated in the tire business.
At one time he offered to back me in getting some equipment to go into business
for myself. This was many years later in about 1940. We bought a few pieces of equipment, and kept it in storage, but that
business never materialized. When he went broke, things kind of fell apart. We sold the equipment that we had accumulated
for my effort. That was the end of that. If he had been able, I'm sure he would have gone all the way in financing the business
for me. But it didn't work out.
Ed and Isabel
didn't have any children. As I mentioned earlier, she was a social worker for the county. When things got rough, she had a
retirement fund that she cashed in, in order to keep him afloat, and that went down the drain too. After the business
folded, he eventually ended up with liver disease which killed him.
In 1936, I left Milwaukee and went to work in downtown Minneapolis at the
Firestone recapping shop at 11th St. and Harmon. One of the first people I met there was the District Manager who just
happened to drop in. He was a great guy, the type of person everybody respected. It was a long time association with that
fellow because he was more like a father to all the key people around there than a boss. I had a good experience there.
I had a little rivalry going there with one worker in particular,
Shorty Dalton, a fellow who was a very efficient worker. He was very skilled, and I ws probably as hard a worker, but not quite as skilled as he was -- which made me
feel inferior. So I had a little problem in that regard. He wasn't antagonistic, but there was a kind of natural rivalry
between us. Shorty went to Duluth as operating manager, and later I went to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, as operating manager.
This was during WWII. Shorty was a skilled worker, but he had no finesse at all, and his business failed. So I ended up as
the more successful one. That made me feel justified, because it demonstrated that my talents were important and led to success.
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