Racket on the Alleys

A new black market burgeoned in Chicago. The commodity: bowling-alley pin boys, who are the key cog in the industry, and are at a premium because of the manpower shortage. To beat this bottleneck, some alley proprietors are hijacking the "pin boys" (usually older men) working for other alleys.

Hijackers lure experienced pin boys away from alleys by offering them 9-c- or 10-c- a scorecard line instead of the ceiling wage of 8-c-. The teen-agers still available can be bought by the mere offer of a hamburger or a hot dog, and will then work in a new alley for the ceiling wage. But proprietors are reluctant even to waste a hamburger on the young boys, because they are undependable. One desperate proprietor offered a group of high-school boys 15-c- a line so he could hold a tournament--then had to call the tournament off when they all walked out at the last minute.

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