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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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that they were mostly crank cases, or strong anti-war people. Of course, the Army outfit would have called them crank too, but I distinguish between the pure crank who does it for the fun of it, and the sort of consecrated crank who thinks he has a good purpose, who thinks that war is a major sin. I think that there were some of those involved. Then, of course, there was a certain amount of sabotage that was German or Japanese inspired. However, every now and then somebody would say that the Commies were involved, although there was very little proof of that, with one exception.

The exception was the Bendix factory at South Bend, Indiana. They never did get their hands on the people who were responsible for it, but there was more sabotage there, I think, than in any other one plant. It was very disconcerting and very difficult. It consisted of putting iron filings - that little tiny iron stuff you use to lay out a magnetic field with - in the gears. It would clog up everything and ruin the bearings. It was disconcerting because it was such a slight operation. Anybody could do that with a gesture that would not be noticeable. It didn't require tools and an operation to do anything, but it had a most distressing and complete effect.





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