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Of course, with all the political worrying about votes by the Congressmen from various farm areas, you get a lot of attention paid to the farm laborers. There was a great series of hearings in Congress into which the Department of Labor was drawn. We were the only people who knew about wages, had records of wages in various fields. We were inevitably invited to come and appear and tell what these wages were in different parts of the country for different kinds of calling. We were always asked for an opinion as to whether an agricultural worker could live on a specific wage.

I remember that in May of '33 there was a very spirited debate in the President's office about the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. A lot of people from Agriculture were there, as well as some of the other Cabinet officers and myself. I remember wondering why I had been asked. I think I had no particular views on the subject at the time, but I learned a lot.

I had just been told that this was the time that Peek made his bid for direct access to the President as head of Triple-A, instead of acting through Wallace. I don't