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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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I don't think it was ever discussed in open Cabinet meeting, but it was discussed on occasions when there were two or three people present, some of whom I recall visually as being Cabinet people, after Cabinet sessions, or when we were together on some special committee for something else. This would be discussed then. I can remember Farley saying. “Mr. President, the funny part of it is that although the lawyers go on about the Supreme Court having exceeded its powers, and all that, the people of the United States don't understand it. You couldn't possibly get up a sufficient excitement among the people about it. You'd better run on the program of what you have done. All right, lay it to the Supreme Court that the NRA is out, but tell them what you're going to do. You're going to have a wage-hour act of some sort. That you can talk about. That's what you mean to do.” By this time I had gotten Roosevelt sewed up to the principle of wage-hour legislation, but he wasn't ready to introduce it. Farley said, “There's plenty here to campaign on. If you go out after the Supreme Court, the people just won't understand it. Times are better anyhow, so they aren't going to feel so terribly about the NRA. It's better for you to lead





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