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“Is he friendly toward labor?”
“Yes,” I said, “I think he is. I think he's friendly toward Labor without being enamoured of Labor, if you know what I mean. He's never, so far as I know, done anything in his whole life that was contrary to the best interests of Labor. I think he'd operate the mines with--”
“Oh, but would he honestly operate them for the Government, or would he be doing it for the operators.”
I said, “Well, I think he would do it honestly for the Government. I think Ickes is the kind of a man who, when told that he's to do a certain thing and when he agrees to do a certain thing, will do it that way.”
He said, “Who would make the profit?”
I said, “I don't know. That's for you to say and whoever runs it.”
“What would we do with the profits we make every week? Who would collect thee money? Who would sell the goods?
“Well,” I said, “wouldn't it be practical to expect that the operators would have the same committee that sells the coal and collects the pay for it, still continuing to do it, with accounting to the government?”
“Yes, that's correct.” He said, “As a matter of fact, of course the operators are entitled to their profit for merely operating the mines.”
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