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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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Hershey about the War Manpower Commission, or Arthur Altmeyer, who sat in at the meetings frequently. He wasn't a member of it and had nothing to say about it, but it amused him. I used to say to him, “Arthur, why do you come?”

He answered, “Well, I have so little amusement in my life. I come to these meetings because I'm allowed in on account of my official position. I have so little fun in life nowadays. I come every Tuesday afternoon to enjoy myself.”

I didn't have too much trouble with the commission. Poor Claude Wickard is the one who had the trouble. Wickard had a way of trying to be as clear as crystal. My idea of how to live is to be as clear as mud. If you're coping with something that's coordinating you with a lot of other people, just be as clear as mud and awfully amiable. Don't tell them anything. How are they going to know about it if you don't tell them?

Of course, the situation with the farmers was, it is true, very serious. They were evading the draft. Men who worked occasionally on a farm were evading the draft by claiming they were farm laborers. Hershey and the military were having a dickens of a time to smoke them out. They knew that there couldn't be so many men who were essential to the dairy industry, for instance. That I reemmber in particular. That seemed to be where most of these boys worked. They take on extras at certain seasons of the year.





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