The Studs Lonigan Trilogy - James T. Farrell [430]
“Paddy, you took the very words out of my mouth. Here are you and me, two men who worked hard all our lives, honest men who were good providers, and the worst we have ever done is tip the bottle once in a while. And now, at the end of our lives, they take everything we got.”
“Mort, it’s all, everything, has been turned into a skin game, and the Jew international bankers are running it,” Lonigan said, Mort nodding agreement.
“And, Paddy, I wanted to ask you, how is Bill?” Mort asked, worry clouding Lonigan’s sagging, ruddy face.
“Bad. Bad, Mort,” Lonigan said, shaking his head, emphasizing his words by lowering his voice.
“Bill’s such a fine fellow, too. Many’s the times he and I have worked on jobs, and I never worked with a better man.”
“A man could not want a finer son than my Bill. But the game’s up for him, Mort, I fear. He’s sick, very sick.”
“Paddy, you sure have your troubles.”
“Troubles, Mort, always come in bunches.”
“Isn’t it so, Paddy?”
“I’m afraid, Mort, that only a miracle can save Bill.”
“Well, Paddy, maybe the best will happen yet”
“Goddamn it, Mort, some good luck has to come to me.”
“Paddy, you sure deserve it. You’re the squarest shooter I ever met.”
The two men stood facing each other, gloomy and silent. “Anyway, Mort, if I line up any jobs, I’ll call you first. But all I’ve got to say is that things look pretty fierce. A long time ago I said that things would happen just like they have, because Hoover was elected. He’s just a tool, if you ask me my opinion. If there hadn’t been such a dirty A. P. A. anti-Catholic prejudice against AI Smith, he would have been elected, and this country would not be where it is today. Because AI Smith would have been a president just like old Abe Lincoln was, a man of the people, governing for the people,” Lonigan said, and Mort agreed with strenuous affirmative nods.
“And Paddy, another man who would not have let the country come to the pass we’re now in is Cal Coolidge. Coolidge, now, he was too smart for them. He saw what was coming, and he cleared out so they couldn’t pin the blame on him. And say, Paddy, do you read what he writes in the paper? He writes wonderful things. A smart man, Coolidge.”
“Yes, sometimes. He’s a brainy man, even if he is a Republican. He got out just because he was too smart to let them give him the rap for these hard times.”
“I cut out one of his articles and saved it. I wanted to show it to you. He says in it just what’s what!” Mort said, drawing out a worn leather bill-fold and extracting a frayed clipping from it.
Lonigan took the clipping. A sudden hope arose in him. It would tell him what to do. He wanted it to tell him why, why he was being broken and ruined, why, why?
Faith without work is vain. But he had always worked, damn hard. Although many millions of people are enjoying record wages, there are others, who are unemployed, some of whom can live on their savings, while the rest will have to be supported directly or indirectly by those who work. If things went on as they did, it looked like he would have to be dependent on public charity.
People are out of work because the things they could produce are not being bought. True. True. The things he could do, people didn’t want. Too many buildings already, and owners couldn’t afford painting and decorating them. With all our wealth, why didn’t Coolidge tell the truth about our wealth, tell who was getting control of it? If he, Paddy Lonigan, knew, Coolidge must know, it is difficult to suppose that our consuming power has greatly diminished. It is not being exercised. It will help somewhat to increase public and private construction. Bully. Smart man. An increase in construction might give men like himself more business. Men like himself were the ones who needed a boost these days, the ones who deserved it. They were the real backbone of this country. And if he did get contracts, he would be spending money, buying supplies, hiring men. Smart man, Coolidge, even if