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than organization - much more important. They would never have had their hours reduced, if we hadn't gotten the legislation first. I know it's right.

Who got the workmen's compensation laws? - the social work organizations. The labor unions opposed it in New York State - opposed it. We went around and tried to sell it. I remember going to a labor meeting on 86th Street with Paul Kennedy one night. We were almost run out. They were as near ugly to us as I ever met, because we were trying to enlist them. They didn't care about the thousands of men who didn't belong to trade unions and the thousands of men who were injured under circumstances where they could not bring a suit against their employer. At least they didn't seem to be interested. They would rise and say, “Bill So-and-So worked in the carpenters' union and fell off a building. We, in the union, brought suit and we recovered $25,000 for him. Now, you can't beat that. You're proposing to give him a measly little $6,000, or you're proposing to give him a little income two-thirds of his weekly wage for life while he's disabled. What's that for Bill?”

“Yes, but,” we would say, “we're proposing to give it to everybody else who couldn't bring a suit because he, himself, had been negligent, or a fellow worker had been negligent.”