Item 04: Memoirs of a Colonial Boy by Robert Joseph Stewart, ca. 1971 - Page 349
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[Page 349]
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isco" day in his city, with lavishly decorated floats enthroning famous female film stars from Universal City (Clara Kimbal Young, Mary Pickford, Clara Bow) included in a great procession, along Market St, of the various patriotic bodies, secret societies and crafts, such as the "Native Sons (and Daughters) of the Golden West" and the Masonic "Shriners", each group led by gaily uniformed brass bands. It was rather incongruous to see sober-sided business men marching along in the old-style Turkish uniform, wearing baggy pants, red fezzes and carrying imitation scimitars.
It was the beginning of a Presidential election year, and as was usual, nearly all business enterprise was slowing down and marking time until it was known, in November, who the new President would be; a Democrat or a Republican. Consequently, unemployment was on the increase, and it was a bad time for immigrants to arrive. Many Italian immigrants had flocked to California, incurring considerable, and at times bitter, feeling against them, particularly in the labouring classes: the Johnson Act restricting immigration did not come into being until two years later. Anti-Italian prejudice was of course accentuated by the growing shortage of jobs.
I was amazed to discover what long hours people worked in the United States, and how hard they worked. Even the trading and savings banks were open until six o'clock for six days a week. There was no Early Closing Act in California, and shops could stay open as long, and as late, as their owners wished; suburban shops were open until midnight. I was told that in some of the near-by mining States, such as Idaho, Colorado and Nevada, all shops, saloons and many offices were open on Sunday nights. The only strongly organised unions were the Longshoremen (Wharf Labourers) and the Seamen. The manual workers didn't have their own special Labour Party in the Senate or the House of Representatives, but looked to the Democratic Party to improve their conditions. There were no Governmental old age pensions, and only a few of the more benevolent private firms and corporations looked after their employees on retirement.