Now That's What I Call A Young Adult Book!

It's a dream come true. You know how there's a book you know exists but somehow you can never find it? Well, I am thrilled to say that thanks to the magic of Teh Intertubes and the vagaries of US copyright law, I have finally been able to read The Boy Troopers On Strike Duty, and it's a corker.

Let me back up and take a running start. Have you ever read any of the old Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew books, the originals I mean, not the weak tea retreads from the '60s and later? You may recall that the villains were generally swarthy "Dagos" or perhaps sinister Slavs, and our plucky WASP protagonists would best them with grit, strength and ingenuity.

There were scads of similar series, some a bit more proletarian in flavor, I have before me here as I type a copy of one of the volumes in Allen Chapman's Railroad Series, which starts with the delightfully titled RALPH OF THE ROUNDHOUSE Or, Bound to Become a Railroad Man.

I read, back in my teen years, one of the Boy Troopers Series, by one Clair W. Hayes, about two fine young fellows who serve as valued allies of the Pennsylvania State Troopers, one of the first such forces. The other titles in the series were listed and one was The Boy Troopers On Strike Duty. Decades passed and I never came across a copy of this promising title, until last night. An idle search for one prompted Comrade Google to direct me to a very nice scan of the original 1922 edition, all set up for quick reading, full screen.

My heart sank when I saw on the cover and again on the title page The Boy Troopers On Duty. What happened to the Strike part?  Happily, when the story starts on page 3, the title is there again with the fateful word restored and the second paragraph takes us to the streets of a Pittsburgh suburb, Wilmercairn, streets crowded with "foreigners."

Until the day before, these men--or a good many of them, at least--had been apparently faithful employes of the Wilmercairn Steel Tube Company.

Today they were strikers--a small fraction of the steelworkers in the Pennsylvania-Ohio-West Virginia Districts--who had joined a walkout for more money and shorter hours. The total number of men on strike in these districts ran into the millions.

I doubt I'm spoiling anything for potential readers when I say, with regret, that despite this promising start, the working class does not seize state power in the region by the end of the book.

However, the strikers make a good run at it, planning an armed attack to seize the main mill and deploying a couple of machine guns in carrying it out. Not, mind you, that these foreigners could have come up with this on their own. (And generic foreigners is what they remain until page 123, where we finally learn that the "firebrands" are "composed entirely of Hungarians, Slovaks and other foreigners.") No indeed, they were stirred up by homegrown American "professional agitators":

These walking delegates were enlarging on the supposed grievances of the foreign strikers.

Alas, we are introduced to only one of these splendid gents and get no idea of his organizational affiliation or political views.

The factory managers, however, come up with a strategy better than their initially planned army of strikebreakers with the help of the heroes, Dick and Ralph: pitting true blue American workers against the foreigners by promising them much better pay and benefits. Although "there are a hundred 'Hunkies' in the mill to every American," the lads succeed in breaking the strike, with the aid of their state trooper buddies, after any number of fist fights, gun fights and narrow escapes. And the boss's daughter for romantic interest.

Even so, it is a close thing and one can dream (even if one is not among the "Boys 12-16 Years of Age," who were the author's target audience).

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Bite Size Bad News 2--Auto

[This is one in a projected series of short posts focused on one or another aspect of the economic situation and designed as a corrective to the "out of sight, out of mind" approach of the mainstream media to the deepening meltdown.]

The prospect of $4 a gallon gas, falling real incomes and the growing recession are obviously hitting the US auto industry hard. Other recent developments suggest things are going to get appreciably worse for Ford, GM et al, fast.

For one thing, the runup in commodity prices is sinking its teeth in. Netherlands-based AcelorMittal, the world's largest steel company, has announced a $250-a-ton "surcharge" on steel it has contracted to sell its US customers. Other steelmakers, hit hard by higher raw material and fuel prices, are expected to follow. The spot market price of steel is up 40-50% from last year. (Hot-rolled sheet steel now runs about $1000 per metric ton at spot, to give you a comparison point). Supplies have tightened further as countries like Egypt, China and Brazil cut exports to ensure their domestic supply. (Need I mention that Hugo Chávez is renationalizing Sidor, Venezuela's largest steelmaker?)

As the Wall Street Journal delicately puts it:

Until now, contract prices were nearly sacrosanct, and customers could count on paying that negotiated amount for the length of the contract. For most steelmakers, the majority of steel is sold under one-year or multiyear contracts.

The car companies are making noises about reducing the amount of steel in cars, but that's a long term project. Right now, with supplies so short, they have to suck up the surcharge and figure whether they can afford to eat it or have to try and pass it on to already cautious potential new car buyers.

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