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There was a great deal of chicanery about all this too. A four cent markup, I think it was, was permitted under the NRA codes. On one of our hearings, when Roper, the Cabinet committee and I, were following through with Johnson, we discovered that that had been interpreted by some of the textile operators as being not only a four cent markup on the raw cotton, which was what was anticipated, but four cents to be added to every single operation all the way along. Four cents on a bale of cotton would not amount to much in the final price, but four cents on every bale of cotton, four cents on every ginning, four cents on every unit of spinning, four cents on every unit of weaving, four cents on every unit of dyeing, and four cents on every other unit, would add up to a sizable amount on the price of a cotton sheet or bath towel at the end. I've forgotten how many cents it was, but it was shocking when you found out how they had interpreted it.

At any rate, because all this was so distressing and because it had to do with a basic industry, it seemed best not to try the old technique, which I had used before and which the President was familiar with, of an ad hoc board, not to mediate alone, although that was supposed to be one of its auxiliary functions - seeing if they