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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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question that a newspaper man might want to know about. This man whom I had saved, allowed to keep his job, answered, “I couldn't tell you, Mike. I'm not allowed to tell you so much as the time of day if you ask me. If you want to know, you'll have to ask the Secretary personally. No publicity whatever is to be given out. The lid is on.”

Well, of course, you know how that affects a newspaper man. He hits the ceiling. So they immediately printed tales about how the Secretary of Labor had applied the gag rule, no news, secrecy, and so on. I wouldn't have known that he had done it, except that one of the women in the press gallery, to whom this man had turned when he got this information from Mr. Clark and exploded, came down to see me. It may have been Ruth Finney. It may have been Ruby Black. It was one of the very nice decent newspaper women who were old hands in Washington, knew what was going on, and knew that wasn't true. They knew that wasn't what was intended. I think it was Ruth Finney who told me. She also said, “That man is very difficult, Miss Perkins. You want to watch out for him.”

I said, “Well, Winifred Mallon told me that he was a fine, useful, helpful man.”

She said, “Well, perhaps he's good to Miss Mallon because she's a friend of the family, but you want to watch





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