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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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ever heard of him or learned of Harold Smith. I forget his title in the State of Michigan, but when Murphy became Governor he found the finances of the State of Michigan in a terrible way, not only wholly disorganized, but so disorganized that it raised the question of some chicanery, or at least the possibility that an individual could make quite a lot of rake-off without having it show. There had been some whispered sc ndals about purchases, kick-backs and all that kind of thing.

Murphy, who was a very high-minded man, a very modern man, wanted above everything to stop that and to put the finances of the State of Michigan on a solid basis, because taxation was getting to be quite a problem. There was a kick about it. Nobody could say what really became of the taxpayers' money, whether it was all spent as necessary.

So he called in Harold Smith. I don't remember what Harold Smith came out of, but he came out of some business. Murphy had known him and had known this business that he was in. He had also, I think, lectured on economics at one of the local city or state colleges - not the University of Michigan, but at one of the many small colleges around Michigan. He asked Harold Smith, whom he knew to be an honest man and a capable one, to come in and serve under a title which was appropriate for making it possible for him to recommend a pattern of reorganization for the government of the State of Michigan, which hadn't been organized at all.





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