Finnish American Historical Archive and Museum - Kentsgenealogy ...

create a union in the mines because work was a low ebb and men were so plenti~
that men wouldn't even think about joining a union; it thef could get So day-ts wor~
they were very happy abOut it. But I do remember in Detroit in 1935-36» I got ~j b
working in a stamping plant and the UAW had just :formed earlier that year. Now i
could be that other unions were also in the process o:f becoming unionized in this I
country. !
That certainly has to be one of the colorful chapters in this area's history, mi~ing
and bri~ng in the union, emplo~ent; but it was very interesting what you said a~out
the company employing the deceased's eldest .on; suggests perhaps that the compan!es
were concerned about their employees. !
I believe the companies telt they were ob ligated to do something tor the tamily; ,ot
course it wasn't the best way in the world to do it but perhaps that's all they k4ew
ot in those days. Because the children didn't go to school as long as they do n~adays;
like myselt, ot course I was not in this country, I was only 12 when I had to leate
the school same in age Canada because but some in this ot the country boys I've were talked big, strong to people enough who to had work to leave in the SchOO; wood , around
or else work around a mine when they could get a job, but they had to do somethin to
help the living ot the tamily. Ot course there's a big change today! I
One of the outstanding things that has happened in your life, according to you, i4
your becoming an American citizen; what year were you naturalized? I
I was naturalized in Detroit in December 1936~ in the FederaJ. BUi~
In that pre-World War neras and during World War II itself's were peop14~prettY"
p$triotic?
I
I think they wer: ~ v:ry much. There were a lot of gripes about how t~e country s~o~ld
have been run wh~ch ~s even more so today, but the fact that we were ~n the depre,s~on
and gradually pulling out of it, in '36, I think that was the start to get out of the
doldrums, that was an indication that people were more s**isried, they knew that i
better things were coming, they couldn't be worse than they were in '32-'33 but t:lj1ere
were people complaining Just like they complain today. People complain about tax,s
and taxes in those days were so negligble compared to day, but there was also the fact
that a lot of people had lost their holdings because they couldn't pay their taxe$
especially in Detroit; There were thousands and thousands of people owning property
there that Just had to give them up. But I think that everyone in general was more
patriotic, very much so.
Looking at this particular area, I 've been told that in early years it was very heavy
Republican-oriented or belief, was there a shift in '32- '36 toward FDR and the New Deal?
Oh, definitely. I'm quite sure that FDR was the main reason for so many so-c&.lle.!i "die
hard" Republicans changing over to Democrat, or else if they didn't change comple~ely,
let's say they wer5t "lukewarm. Republicans" because it would seem. to me in the older days
and judging from/gniy the mining records but township records which I've come across
over the years, when you go through the records you will find that so many people I
voted Republican because they were working for the mining company; and in most c~es
you will find in the old records that the township offices were held by members of the
mining company; perhaps the township supervisor was the clerk of the mining comp~y,
or he might have been a superintendent of the mining company, or the treasurer of! the
township might have been one of the clerks of the mining company and in going thr~ugh
the old records, you'll find that time after time.
Does that suggest there was same kind of encouragement or even pressure placed uppn the
mining employees placed by them?
I i
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