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Notable New     Yorkers
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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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He was very disturbed about this, but he didn't get angry. An ordinary trade union leader would have hit the ceiling if I'd told him that I heard his members weren't trustworthy. That was the exact reason that I'd used those words when I'd talked to Rathbone. I used words that would make a trade union leader mad. He wasn't angry at all. He was very calm, very judicial. He proceeded to assure me, in well-chosen language, that they were the most trustworthy men possible, that they were very intelligent, very trustworthy, that they were loyal and patriotic. What did they have to communicate about anyhow? Who did they communicate with? Naturally these men buffeted around on the seas spoke to each other on the ships, just as the old-fashioned railroad telegrapher used to ask the man a hundred miles away, “How is your wife? Has the new baby come all right?” That's the kind of question they asked each other. “Who did you see when you were in London? Did you see Jones?” Rathbone said, “That's the kind of talk they engage in - perfectly natural, human talk.”

I said, “Well, they're quite intelligent men aren't they? It's a pretty high grade post which requires considerable intelligence. Do they read a lot?”





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