Page 181 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

The First World War and after

and Ben drove it. Yet, when something went wrong with that old
thing, I was the man to putter and make it move. So an idea came
into my head: to learn how to repair a car. Our business was a small
affair, and we were sitting in the store the whole day, sometimes not
making a single sale. To utilize that time, I went to Hubbard Auto
Sales on Central Avenue, and asked them to permit me to work for
them several hours a day in the shop without being paid. The
company was glad to get free labor, and I did any work they gave me.
I made friends with the mechanics, offering them a cigar or a rebuilt
Stetson hat—of which we had plenty in the store—and they showed
me the more interesting work. The boss did not mind; it meant to
him more profit, for nothing.
Soon it happened that the man who overhauled the engines was
laid up by sickness and accident at the same time, and the foreman
told me to take over the bench and do the job. I was paid three-fifty a
day, which was then the ordinary wage. I began to work every day,
while Ben attended to the business. My earnings were put into the
store’s earnings. Besides working at the bench, I had to repair and
refit leaky piston rings and valves, and do other work on
transmissions, etc. My work was satisfactory to the foreman. The
most peculiar part about my position was that after I fitted the piston
rings and adjusted the valves, and in general tuned the engine, I could
start the car but could not drive it out for a trial. I was embarrassed
that I could not drive; I found excuses, so some of the fellows near
me would drive the car and adjust it.
In that period Prohibition, which had been partially in force,
became complete. Wholesale beer also was prohibited, and business
on First and Main became very poor. Ben was alone in the store
while I was working, and our stock of clothing was diminishing. An
auctioneer came by and offered five thousand dollars for the
business. The stock was hardly worth half of that, and our lease was
precarious—not being recorded, and the new owner of the building
figuring on remodeling the structure. So we accepted the offer. Five
thousand dollars was quite a sum of money at that time. Ben did not
know what to do, and I thought that I already knew the car business,
so we decided to go open a repair garage. I did not really know

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