Home
Search transcripts:    Advanced Search
Notable New     Yorkers
Select     Notable New Yorker

Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
Photo Gallery
Transcript

Part:         Session:         Page of 915

I had not known what the Reconstruction Finance Corporation was. It was just one of Hoover's things. What happened in Washington didn't make any difference to me until I came here. So I had hardly known what they were doing. But I began to realize that Jones knew what he was talking about. When we were thinking of ways to prevent unemployment when we got to Washington, Jones came to an early Cabinet meeting and made a report upon the status of the RFC, what they were doing, the amount of money available. I remember that he said then, “We've done a little. I think what's been done is good. We take our chances. But we're not doing enough. The RFC is not putting out enough money. We should put out more money and we should have more money available to us to put out. I'm pretty nearly certain that once this thing gets going it'll pay for itself and there will be no permanent indebtedness to the United States. I think these things will pay themselves back. It's a very fine idea.”

I was interested in that on the economic side. These things had been proposed on a number of occasions, but there was nobody to lend the money. Jesse Jones was saying, “Let Congress make more money available to me. I will lend more and I will lend it to places where





© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help