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I remember that Ickes and I looked at each other and he muttered under his breath, “This is the damndest thing I ever heard. The damndest thing. Did you ever hear of anything like that?”

I remember saying, “Why, they must be out of their minds. They're crazy. Could they mean it?”

So we both questioned them, “Do you mean it? How is this to be done?”

“We would expect, of course, not to be expropriated, but what we propose is that the government set up a board - we will agree to anything - to determine the fair price. If we can get out with our skins, that's all we would ask. We don't even hope to get out with our skins. We expect to lose money on it, but if we can get out without this accumulated obligation that gets bigger and bigger and bigger every year, every month almost, we will be thankful. We propose that the government take over the coal mines, that it set up some kind, any kind, of a board to determine the appropriate compensation and the way it shall be paid to the owners of the mines.”

They wanted the government to take over the ownership of the mines and the operation. These men didn't even expect to serve as miners. They wanted the government to take over the ownership and operation of these mines. “We believe that