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They thought it would be a fine idea.

What could be accomplished? Well, not much could be accomplished, but “You could put some ideas in their heads. You could perhaps get a few basic recommendations from them. At least you could put it into the publicity that there had been such a conference and that the administration was seeking something that would ease and help the labor situation.”

The great problem then was unemployment. That was the one great thing that was the matter with the labor situation and needed easement. So I said, “Will you help me get up the proper list, because I can't have Tom, Dick and Harry in. We musn't have the heads of little bits of unions, but we must have the leaders who will represent a lot of people.”

It's a very complicated organization when you go at it. There are an awful lot of unions - independent unions federated in the AF of L. Some of them are very small, some of them almost non-existent actually. I said, “We must be sure, what's more, that most of the great building trade unions, who are all Republicans and who were all represented on Hoover's campaign committee, will come.” William Hutcheson had actually been a member of Hoover's campaign committee, had been chairman of the labor committee. He pretty nearly spoke for most of the building trades. “They're the most dominant and important ones in the trade,