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relations thing that President Wilson had appointed. I was brought in because I knew something about the situation, I suppose. The problem was about the building trades. The building trades were at a stand-still, and the government needed building to be done. They wanted to fuss about regulations and so on. We went through a great deal of detail. Bruere finally said, “Now, see here, Sullivan, I think we could put this over. I think the President would agree to us. Why doesn't your union take over the whole show of making the contracts? You can get all the laborers together to build a building, a barracks. You've got all you need. You've got carpenters, you've got plumbers, you've got masons. You've got very kind of building trades man. You could build a building. Your building trades department could take the contract and build the building. Just don't have this conflict with the employers. Just make your agreement with the government and turn out the building.”

With no reflection at all, and with all the labor people agreeing with him, Sullivan said, “Oh, certainly not! Not under any circumstances.” Then Sullivan proceeded to explain to Bruere, Ripley and myself, although, since I knew the labor people better than they did, I had a kind of guess as to what his answer would be, why it was that that would never be.