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He would say, “Send your conciliator over and I'll send somebody from the Navy. Don't you think we can fix it up?”

I said, “If you'll instruct a man from the Navy that you want it patched up and that you want him to accept a reasonable thing, I think it can be fixed.”

Knox would say, “Sure, we'll do that. I know how these officers are. They're so stiff and hard-boiled, but I know how workingmen are too. You've got to deal with them and give them something.”

He was very sensible about that and he was humanitarian in his attitude - “Poor devils, they never get much ahead of the game. They've got to strike while the striking is good.”

Of course, we had some very difficult situations in the ship building trades at about that time, but he was very good on it. He never gave us any trouble. He appointed as one of his assistants Ralph Bard from Chicago. He was a civilian, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Although he started out very stiff and hidebound in these matters, he got very intelligent, with a general attitude of good will toward the workingmen, willing to give them a chance.