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greatly affected their dealings both with their employers and with the government.
Most of this didn't show out in public. In 1919, by Al Smith's appointment, I became a Member of the Industrial Commission. We dealt with all aspects of the labor problems of the State of New York, including not only factory inspection, law enforcement, arbitration and conciliation in strikes or industrial disputes. So we were always likely to be in on the fringes of any long drawn out dispute.
So in that connection I would hear from the labor people who came into our offices and form the irate employers all about the politics inside these unions. They'd say, “These people don't want a raise, or a change of working conditions, it's just politics inside the union.”
The politics proved to be personal and also with regard to this philosophy. This becomes important later and explains why they had to have a separate party so that the clothing workers could bring themselves to vote for Roosevelt. They couldn't bring themselves to vote for Roosevelt under the Democratic star because they were bona fide Socialists, or more
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