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Notable New     Yorkers
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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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read the act and he understood it. I told him what the responsibilities of the chairman would be, and so forth. He began to spout at once. He caught fire and began to spout. He knew all about the act. There were certain defects in that act that ought to be strengthened. “You could do this and this by administrative ruling,” he talked on and on and on. As he talked on and on he began to lay out what he could do, what could be done, the vigorous drive he could make, putting these ‘mossback’ employers right in their place where they would have to learn something whether they wanted to or not. Miss Jay, who was listening in to our conversation in the other office, came to the door, looked at me and began waving her hand. I waved back at her. We knew exactly what we meant - “This man is too vigorous, too explosive, too uncontrollable. What'll you ever do with him? He'll speak his mind under all circumstances.”

I'm sure that he understood that he was being offered the post. I saw from his conversation that he thought I was offering it. So I interrupted him to say that this was very interesting, that I knew that we had talked a long time and he had to get his train, that I was delighted to know that he would be interested in it, but,





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