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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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valuable presents. One of these little fans is very beautiful, but it's made of paper and the commonest kind of wood. It has no intrinsic value. That's one of the more delicate parts of their protocol.

I remember that on that occasion she showed us a great collection of Japanese dolls, dolls dressed in the clothing of every part of the country, representing every kind of trade or profession, in different degrees of elegance and wealth, in ceremonial dress and common dress. She had them altogether in a little cabinet.

I remember a certain tension because we were all so excessively polite. I remember the luncheon because of the extreme politeness with which we all behaved, so much more so than was natural or normal. We praised everything extremely. We smiled all the time. It was obvious that this was the first brigade answering the Secretary of State's request for good social relationships between the Japanese embassy and the officials of Washington.

In general most of the members of the Cabinet did not attempt to tell the President, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War what they ought to do, because those were areas of very exact and expert knowledge and information. Nevertheless, the general feeling of the Cabinet, and they often said so, was that it was just about time to stop sending things to Japan. Everything was more edgy all the time.





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