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“Well, that will all adjust itself. When everybody is at work, naturally the wages will adjust.”

I thought that was absurd. I said, “It seems to me that this bill without a minimum wage section, which gives somebody the power to fix the wages, won't work.”

“But how could you do that?” he said.

I said, “well, there are minimum wage boards in this country in the different states where they fix the minimum wages. I admit you can't fix the wages above the minimum, but fixing the minimum wage prevents it from sinking below subsistence level. It keeps it at a living level. You fix generally as a minimum wage the level which it takes to support a man and a theoretical family of three. That's a minimum wage. It depends upon the cost of living, the character and the standard of living. It can be done. That we know how to do. It has been done for a long time in some states for women workers.”

He hadn't thought about that. He thought that would create great antagonism. I remember his using those words - “great antagonism” if we tried to have a minimum wage. I don't know who he was thinking about - not necessarily about the South, but from all people who didn't want to pay a special wage. I think he felt that his bill was a very beneficial plan and he dreamed that this would solve the