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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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was thinking about peace. That is, it was going to be his function to pull the threads together that made it possible to make a sensible peace. He, having seen the Versailles Treaty being made and being aware of what was going on, was more than ever desirous of having all possible knowledge assembled and ready to use, and not having to wait to got it after the peace Conference began. He was always thinking of the Peace Conference.

I speak of this merely to indicate his desire to make himself ready. I think he was all the time lining up items that would be useful in a treaty, items that would be practical in a treaty, projects that would bring the warring peoples of the world together, you see, on doing something in common. And he was very much aware of the necessity of expanding the markets of the world. I remember a little homily that he delivered upon how we must expand the markets of the world. by raising the standard of living of the peoples of the world. He had deduced that largely by his observation of the developing market in the United States that came from the raising of the standards of the people. In talking about the economy of France, he would say, you see, “French economy must be helped to expand, and we must make a market for it in the places where the French now have their foothold.”

That kind of thing. It was intelligent. Others in the State Department were obviously working on what their





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