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is the prevailing minimum scale of wages. That's all this law entitles us to do.”

“That's no way to do it. Why did you make that investigation for?”

“Because,” I said, “there's no other way to determine it.”

“Why, it's absolutely wrong.” They raised hell with me. Finally one of them said, “Do you know what I thought this law meant, what I had understood and assumed? This is a very easy law. You don't have to make it so difficult for yourself. You don't have to make all these investigations and find out all these things. All you've got to do is ask us. We'll tell you what the prevailing rate of wages is.”

I said, “But this is the prevailing minimum rate of wages.”

“I know, but it's the same thing.” I remember that Dan Tobin was with this man, whose name I can't remember. This man said, “This is what I thought you'd do. It's very easy. Just read the law. It's very easy. They get this contract. The Secretary of Labor calls for us. We'll come down and we'll tell you exactly what the scale of wages is. We'll just tell you what the prevailing rate of wages is and then you