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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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done something about it. This person said to me, “We haven't done anything startling, like setting up the Federal Reserve Banks, like Wilson did. What we've done doesn't make a good story. Somebody suggested that I get you to come over and talk about this with me and two or three of us.”

I went over and said, “I can't imagine what the problem is. Look what we've done.” I began with our very first day in office. We began with relief because the people were suffering. We began with relief to the veterans who converged on Washington, not because they ought to have converged, but because they were hungry. So we gave them coffee, doughnuts and kind words. Then we gave people quick cash relief. We got work relief. We got the Home Owners Loan to save people's houses. What was that for? For nothing in the world except to save the homes of people. Then we got the farm mortgage legislation. We stopped the sale of farmers' homes, barns and cattle by the sheriff on foreclosures of mortgages. We moved on to the public works jobs. We set up the NRA, which gave us a shot in the arm and established a floor under wages and a ceiling over hours. The country rejoiced. Thousands went back to work on that plan. We put a big public works program into





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