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I used to sometimes be very alarmed that there would be a near scandal in the Office of Production Management, because of the fact that they did agree to things without any routine procedure. I've already mentioned that Hillman agreed to give some contracts to a particular firm on the West Coast if they would give the union what it was asking for, or some portion of what they were asking for, which Hillman dictated over the telephone at that time. John Frey is the one who told me about it, and he told me about it with praise for Hillman, because it was his union, and he was sitting beside Hillman when Hillman was talking. He said, “It did my heart good to hear Hillman lay the law down to these people as to what they had to do. I told him that this was what the union would accept, and Hillman told them right on the telephone that the union would accept that, and that would settle the strike.”
Well, of course, a lot of us had told them that befire. I had told that same firm that. The Regional Director of the Conciliation Service on the West Coast had told them that. A lot of people in the Department of Labor had told them, “We know the union will accept this. If you offer that, they'll take it. Don't ask us how we know. We just know.” We couldn't offer them, nor could they make such a proposition to us, that they would get a navy contract. When Frey told
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