Shine

On the ferries which daily swish and creak from Manhattan to Staten Island a busy grimy tribe ply their trade. Their cry is "Shine? Shine?"; their trade is polishing shoes for a dime and, by unwritten law, a nickel tip.

Once they worked for a boss who paid them $8 weekly. Now they are their own syndicated bosses, weekly earn an average of $30. Last week, the city of New York, as it does every two years, auctioned the bootblacking concession. The syndicated polishers sent their banker, one Philip Bernardini, to bid. Banker Bernardini bid $60,300 for the two years, undoubtedly won the award.