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employment after the peace was signed, and laying the basis with them to think about it and make suggestions about how it could be done. How could you keep up production and operations and employment, in the face of the demobilizing Army? He was subtly letting them know: where would the business be if they did not keep up production?
He took an active part in the regulations which we drew to permit the immediate settlement of claims--not having them have to go through the Court of Claims and the other Bureau they have to go through that takes ten years sometimes for them to go through. That had been one of the great complaints at the end of the First World War. As a matter of fact, the claim of the United States Steel Company was settled before one of these boards, for steel furnished during the First World War--it was settled, I think, about 1940. It was quoted as just a ridiculous thing, that that should be. In the meantime that money, which was their working capital, was not available to keep into operations.
Well, Henry Wallace took a great interest in seeing that this working capital was made available, that the settlements were immediate, you see. Make a good search to see what was being done, but make your search before you gave them the money anyhow. And there were a good many other situations.
What was that meeting we used to have, Federal Reserve
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