Evening Star Newspaper, June 8, 1930, Page 92

THE SUNDAY STAR, et ——— = FINKELSTE FannieHurstWrites of Every-Day People—She Has Lived Among These People; She Is Acquainted With the Little Incidents of Their Lives—So “Finkelsteins Funeral,” a First-Run Story, Is One of Her Best — Miss Hurst’s Story in The Star’s Magaxine for Next Sunday Will Be “Dream IWalt2.” T behooved Ringling, as the employer of Finkelstein. for over a period of 25 years, to attend the funeral of one who had scrved him well. It was one of the things one did out of a sense of the fitness of things. For 25 years, the innocuous Finkelstein, patient, plodding, an old faithful in the bookkeeping department of the large cooperage concern of which Ringling was presi- dent, had been part and parcel of the daily routine; of the remunerative affairs which had made Ringling, at 60, many times a millionaire. Yes, it was with a sense of the appropriate- ness of such a gesture, that on the day of Pinkelstein’s funeral Ringling directed his chauffeur to drive him to the residence of the old employe who had delivered, through the years, such faithful service. It was gratifying to come within sight of Pinkelstein’s home. It showed that here was a man whose living wage had been sufficient to enable him to dwell in the cleanliness and decency of the small but well kept brick dwell- ing, surrounded by its plot of garden which stood on a tree lined little side street of a small suburb outside the limits of the great city; here was a man whose employer, he, Ringling, had allowed a decent living wage. OTHING remarkable about Finkelstein either, except his dog-like fidelity to routine. As a matter of fact, reflected Ringling to himself, riding along the modest neighbor- hoods which lay so outside his pale, of late years he might easily have replaced Finkelstein with a younger man. But no, it had not been his custom to employ such tactics of ingrati- tude with employes of long standing. True, Ringling knew little enough about the staff of his organization. He was not a gregarious man, nor a particularly benign one when it came to interesting himself in the lives of others. But in a general way, the employes of the cooperage concern were treated on the principle that good service entitled a man to consideration and, except on rare occasions, displacements and new faces were seldom in- troduced into the concern. ‘Then, too, in"the event of death or disaster s one sort or another, Ringling almost in- variably appeared at the funeral or bedside of the employe. 1In the case of Strandermann, who had broken two legs in a fall from a ladder in the shops, Ringling had done the hand- some thing and employed Strandermann’s son in his father’s place, even though the boy was inexperienced and caused difficulties. And now Finkelstein, the next to oldest em- ploye of the firm, was dead, and Ringling ar- riving at the funeral saw at least two-thirds of the cooperage organization standing about on the lawn as he drove up. Thereupon, surprises began to happen. They were standing about on the little lawn, for the reason that the house of Finkelstein was so crowded, on each of its two floors, that it was impossible for another human being to cram into its doorways. Actually, before that modest house on that modest street, were offi- cers of the law, trying to regulate the demon- stration that was taking place at the funeral of Finkelstein. AND that demonstration was prompted by nothing more than the hundreds of men, women and children who were bombarding the house to pay last tribute to this man who had Hved humbly but apparently with such superb grace. Men and women, unable to jam their way into the house, were standing on the lawn and sidewalks weeping and holding their children in arms, for the moment when the bier of Finkelstein would appear at the threshold on its way to the hearse at the curb. "9 Riding up before this spectacle, Ringling was struck with amazement. Great was the em- barrassment of all concerned when it was found that the great Ringling, the millionaire em- ployer of the humble Finkelstein, could not even force entrance into the home to pay re- spect to the last of Finkelstein. But without effect was the attempt of those in._charge to find entrance for the employer of Finkelstein. Men, women and children crowded every doorway, youngsters with wilting bouquets’ in their hands, older folk exchanging low-voiced reminiscences of the many kindnesses and acts of mercy of which they had been recipient at the apparently sainted hands of this man who had passed on. - A man of whom Ringling had never had She slightest conception! Why, Finkelstein had been just any unocbstrusive faithful employe, courteous, obsequious, anxious to please, coming and going in the routine way of the rising and the setting of the sun. A man in no way to excite comment, just an ordinary every- day little man in the street. And now this! Men and women from towns a night's train ride away, came to pay him the rites of their last expression of respect and love. Finkelstein, it seemed, little old obscure Finkelstein, had been to these people and to hundreds more who sent messages and offer- SHINGTON, D. C, JUNE 8 1930. IN'S FUNERAL—Z3y ings of love, inspiration, solace and guidance. Children loved him for his mercy at their sick beds; men had been helped over bad, foul places by him, women had reason to bless the ground upon which he walked, and sobbed at his passing. School children bearing field flowers sang “Lead Kindly Light” as his flower- draped coffin was born out into the sunlight. The wife of Pinkelstein, no more comely than he had been, twisted with years but walking proudly in her pain, followed him, the hun- dreds making way for her to pass. Taming New York’s Curb Market. Continued from Fowrth Page at 6 in the morning and continued until 8 in the evening. Then, as the traders and brok- ers drifted up town for a cocktail, a highball and a little relaxation, business was picked up at night where it left off. AT first, the old Windsor Hotel was the ren- dezvous. And here it was that the amazing Jay Gould could be found. He lived just across the street and it was more than passingly handy for this historic market raider to wander in and out. Here, too, came Jim Fisk, that other “buccaneer” of the securities world. Cor- ridors of prominent hotels. barrooms and lob- bies had remained important trading points, with operations going on, like poker games, far into the night. But the country was fast changing. A new solidity was coming in. The curbstone operatcrs moved into Broad street, just across from the J. P. Morgan offices, and here it was that some of its most colorful scenes were staged. For giant office buildings were beginning to spring up all around, traffic was fast increasing, and the crowds were increasing in the highways. The effect of utter pandemonium grew weekly and the traders finally had to move down the street, but remaining on Broad street. There was still no organized body and no time- limit on the business sessions. Almost any one could become a broker, with or without qualifications. The involvements can hardly be imagined, since contracts to buy or sell depended almost en- tirely upon the personal integrity of those in- volved. One could. if so constituted, walk in or out on a transaction. Yet, somehow, there were honest men on both sides and, somehow, busi- ness of every sort was carried on. Yet, strange as it may seem, it has only been in fairly recent years that the old primitive methods were tossed out and something ap- proximating efficiency introduced. Somehow or other, affairs in all lines managed to blunder along. From 1900 until the opening of the World War, the crowds in the street increased as the number of securities increased. It was this new congestion which led to such picturesque identi- fications as trick hats, colored handkerchiefs and hysterical gesturés. An entirely new era was openine, S0, just about 11 years ago. a crowd of brokers and traders met in an uptown hotel and decided to hiive a roof over their heads. So came the present quarters on Trinity place. Oveérnight, the old arena in the side street disappeared. The street grew quiet. Windows, once filled with shrieking men, were shut. Today a ticker service spans the country and jumps the border into Canada. From California to Florida the ticker tape flashes the latest quotation, and 3,000 such tickers bear the news in as many different spots. ‘The new Curb Exchange is expected to be operating some time late in the year. Member- ship is limited to 550, and the value of seats has been steadily increasing until a quarter of a million dollars is just a fair price for one. (Copyright, 1930.) Spring Waters Anal: yed., HE perfect analysis of bottled spring waters, like the perfect alibi in crime, arouses the suspicions of Federal food and drug in- spectors. Now and then bottled waters contain a statement of the chemical constituents in the water, with percentages of content that are accurate to an impossible degree, and when this is so the Federal inspectors check up to find whether the statements are true. If the statements are false or misleading; the product under question runs up against the strong arm of the law. Now and then medical values are attributed to waters because of the presence of some ele- ment which, in fact, is present in such minute quantities as to have no effect upon the user. For instance, one bottle water, claimed to have radio-active powers because of the presence of radium, was found upon analysis to contain so little radium that for the user to obtain the results claimed he would daily have to drink some 2,000 gallons of the water, which is a task of some proportions. The Federal™ experts are watching these bottle waters carefully, and find that in most cases the labels are accurate and are a true statement of the content, but now and then a violation is discovered, with prompt action following. Fannie Hurst . Great was the amazement of all when it was found that the millionaire could not force his way through the crowd of mourners. I'!‘ was the most triumphant funeral Ringling had ever seen. It was & demonstration of love and gratitude such as he had never be- held. It was only in his death that Ringling was to learn how great a man Pinkelstein had been in his life. A woman on the edge of the crowd related how funds out of his modest salary had been his monthly offering to her during the two-year period of an illness. An- other recited his many errands of mercy for her sick husband. A man on crutches was unashamed to utter aloud his blessings on the memory of Finkelstein and children who were old enough to understand, cried. Such was the funeral of Finkelstein, and #t awoke in Ringling a strange fear that for weeks thereafter made his face look gray and mask-like. What about his own funeral? What about the funeral of Ringling? Who would there be to mourn Ringling? How many children, carrying nosegays, would stand wet-eyed on the lawns of his country estate at Rosylind. What about the funeral of Ringling? He knew. It would be the icy, reserved fu- neral of a man who had lived in icy reserve. Men and women with cold, thin lips; business associates present for the looks of the thing; distant relatives, scenting legacies; furloslty mongers wanting to see the inside of a great house, would line up around his great bronze bier. Ringling did not want that kind of a funeral. After beholding the funeral of Finkelstein, Ringling was afraid to go out in the cold. He wanted to die like Finkelstein. Perhaps he may. THE widow of Finkelstein is helping Ringling. There are youngsters who come daily now to the home of Ringling, puny ones who need the power of wealth to equip them with a strength for life; men and women who have been brought to his atten.ion by the widow of Finkelstein are full of gratitude for Ring- ling’s visits to their bedside and his alleviation of their poverty. .The widow of Finkelstein has not long to live.. You can see it in her dimming eyes and frail heart-broken face, but Ringling, mean- while, warming himself at the light of her spiritual radiance, is losing no time in learning same of the truths he hopes to inherit from the Finkelsteins. Ringling is learning how to die, (Copyright, 1930.) Iron Producing States FOUR States outranked Pennsylvania in from production in 1929, although ‘the location of the greater part of the steel industry in the Keystone State leads many to believe that the iron originates there. Minnesota led by far in iron-ore production, turning out nearly 46,000,000 tons. Michigan was next with 15,456,397, followed by Ala- bama, 6,453,075; Wisconsin, 1,608,571, and thea Pennsylvania, 1,092,103. Virginia, which in 1928 produced about 28,000 tons, dropped out of the iron-productiom business.