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Notable New     Yorkers
Select     Notable New Yorker

Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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knew it. I knew exactly how many people had been added to the payroll. “We only regulate the hours and wages of women, but the number of women employed has increased. The earnings of wage earners have increased. The number of factories has increased. The earnings of industries generally (I forget what that index was that we used, but it's one published by the Department of Commerce) have increased. The earnings of all the retail trade have greatly increased in this ten year period since this all began.”

So instead of the disaster that had been predicted by the National Association of Manufacturers for the State of New York, we had had the exact contrary. We had had the best business and the best prosperity we had ever known, and more people sharing in it. I think Al Smith could have gone on being elected Governor year after year and year after year. It had become a permanent habit, not only on account of him personally, but on account of his great good sense. He accomplished this social program with conviction and with good sense. He began with good sense.

I went to some places in the West where we were trying to get these independent voters. I spoke in Chicago. I spoke in Pittsburgh. I spoke in other cities where there





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