ou wouldn't have to pay him nothing, maybe," Goldman suggested.

"What d'ye mean?" Abe cried.

"Might if you would take it the loft he would call off the strike," said
Goldman.

"That's so, Mawruss," Abe murmured, as though this phase of the matter
had just occurred to him for the first time.

"Maybe Goldman is right, Abe," Morris replied. "Maybe if we took it the
loft Slotkin would call off the strike."

"After all, Mawruss," Abe said, "the loft ain't a bad loft, Mawruss. If
it wasn't such a good loft, Mawruss, I would say it no, Mawruss, we
shouldn't take the loft; but the loft is a first-class A Number One
loft."

"S'enough, Abe," Morris replied. "You don't have to tell it me a hundred
times already. I ain't disputing it's a good loft; and so if Slotkin
calls off the strike we take the loft."

At this juncture the store door opened and Slotkin himself entered.

"Good afternoon, gents," he said.

Morris and Abe greeted him with a scowl.

"I suppose you come for an answer about that loft, huh?" Morris snorted.

Slotkin stared at Abe indignantly.

"Excuse me, Mr. Perlmutter," he said, "I ain't here as broker. I'll see
you later about that already. I come here now as varking delegate."

"Sure, I know," Abe replied. "When you call it a strike on us this
morning, that ain't got nothing to do with our taking the loft. We
believe that, Slotkin; so go ahead and tell us something else."

"It makes me no difference whether you believe it or you don't believe
it, Mr. Potash," Slotkin went on. "All I got to say is that you signed
it an agreement with the union; ain't it?"

"Sure, we signed it," said Abe, "and we kept it, too. We pay 'em always
union prices and we keep it union hours."

"Prices and hours is all right," Slotkin said, "but in the agreement
stands it you should give 'em a proper place to work in it."

"Well," Morris cried, "ain't it a proper place here to work in it?"

Slotkin shook his head.

"As varking delegate I seen it already. I seen it your shop where your
operators work," he commenced, "and----"

"Why, you ain't never been inside our shop," Goldman cried.

"I seen it from the outside--from the street already--and as varking
delegate it is my duty to call on you a strike," Slotkin concluded.

"What's the matter with the workroom?" Abe asked.

"Well, the neighborhood ain't right," Slotkin explained. "It's a narrow
street already. It should be on a wider street like Nineteenth Street."