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Service won't tell me what I want to know. He keeps telling me he has a job in the powder mill. I don't want to work in the powder mill. I'm a mechanic. I want to work in a mechanic's job. He won't tell me a thing. Doesn't he know of any jobs for mechanics?”
I remember an interview that took place in Chicago just like that. I tried to placate the man and then went to the person in charge and said, “For heaven's sake, tell him where he can get a mechanic's job.” He didn't want to go to work in a powder mill. I didn't think he was any more afraid than anybody else, but he knew how to do something and that was the kind of job he wanted. He knew there must be jobs. When he first spoke to me in that office, he saw that I was somebody of some importance, but he didn't know who I was. He found out before I was through. He knew at once that I was somebody because they tried to give him the brushoff when he tried to speak to me. I never permitted that. I always think that's the meanest thing to do. Perhaps he is a fool. Perhaps he's drunk. But I do think that if you're a public official, you ought to let the public approach you, trying to think of some way of your own to get rid of them. I know you can't give your whole day to a man with a grievance. Anyhow, he told me this story and I do remember this interview.
At any rate, I think the logic of the Manpower Commission would have killed it anyhow. I think it was a very
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