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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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matter. It was a very bitterly fought case. They brought in all their lawyers. It was a USF&G case. They brought in their top lawyers and fought it very hard.

I questioned the woman. I questioned the neighbors who came in as witnesses about the matter of their lives. I questioned her about her husband's earnings and how long he'd had these earnings, what he did with the earnings. “He always brought his earnings home. He always brought his pay envelope right to me. Every Saturday night when he got paid he brought the envelope right to me. He wasn't a drinking man.”

I said, “Did you give him money for his private expenses?”

“Oh, yes. I took money out of the envelope and gave him so much (she told me how much) for his tobacco, so much for his lunch, so much for his carfare. Then I put the other aside - so much for the children's carfare to go to school, because one of the girls went to high school and had to take a streetcar. There was so much for the house and so much that we saved. Every Monday I went down to the bank and put so many dollars in the bank.”

I said, “In whose name did you put the money?”

“Why, in his and mine. It was a joint account.”

“How did the account read?”





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