The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck [269]
3 “Ol’ Dan Tucker”: Written by Dan Emmett for the group, Unglula Minstrels, which formed in 1843: “Come to town de udder night, I hear de noise an/ saw de fight, De watch-man was a run-nin roun, cry-in/ Old Dan Tuckers come to town, So get out de way!”
4 *what happened in Akron, Ohio: On February 17, 1936, workers struck at the 14,000 employee Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron because 137 men had been laid off the third shift after the work day was increased from 6 hours to 8 hours. Although only about 200 of the 14,000 member work force were labor union adherents, thousands of workers left the plant to establish an 11-mile picket line around Goodyear’s fences—the largest picket line in history. By the second day, 10,000 workers had joined the picket line. When a “Law and Order League” was formed among local citizens, the union’s war veterans began regular military-type drills to prepare for vigilante attacks. In March 1936, Goodyear recognized the workers union, reinstated the laid off workers, and cut the work-day hours back to six.
CHAPTER 25
1 Slaughter the pigs: In September 1933, over six million pigs were slaughtered to stabilize prices, while most of the meat went to waste.
CHAPTER 26
1 *Happy Hooligan: Comic strip character—a generous, kindly hobo who persistently looked on the bright side—drawn by Frederick B. Opper from 1900- 1932 and syndicated in Hearst newspapers.
2 Sam Browne belt: Originally a sword belt for Army officers with a supporting strap over one shoulder, and later used by police and guards; named for its inventor, General Sir Samuel Browne (1824-1901).
3 J. P. Morgan: Wealthy, powerful American financier and industrial organizer, John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) was one of the dominant figures in American capitalism.
CHAPTER 27
1 *cotton-pickin’ machine: John and Mack Rust designed and built a horse-drawn mechanical harvester, the Rust Cotton Picker, in 1928, and experimented with several mechanized versions in the following decade. In 1937 an improved tractor model picked 13 bales of cotton in one day, though because of the availability of cheap labor in the Depression such machines did not become widely used or perfected until the 1940s.
CHAPTER 28
1 *Two are better . . . help him up: From Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up.”
2 *Again . . . broken: From Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12: “Again, if two lie together, they are warm; but how can one be warm alone?”
3 *the poor . . . with us: See Matthew 26: 11: “For you always have the poor with you; but you will not always have me.” Also Deuteronomy 15: 11: “For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in the land.”