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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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Part:         Session:         Page of 912

Perkins:

Well, I think it worked out well enough if there were some good subordinates, and I think it accomplished what it was meant to accomplish, which was to involve all elements of the population in the War effort and get them committed. The big boys, and the important men, and the unimportant ones as well--the Republicans as well as the Democrats--get them all in it, so that it was nobody's fault.

Interviewer:

There was another argument: the dollar was paid by the Government but their salaries were being paid by Proctor and Gamble and so forth; this man therefore was not a free agent to do the work of the Government without regard to Proctor and Gamble; policies and trade channels were therefore things to keep open while working for the Government.

Perkins:

Yes. Well, that was natural. I understand that. But I still think that the dollar-a-year man was better than what we would have had if we hadn't had him. If he had stayed at Proctor and Gamble and worked for Proctor and Gamble, and we had tried to do all the unpleasant work that had to be done through the civil servant, which was the other alternative, we would have had a much worse result. I mean, whatever channeling of kudos and relationships to Proctor and Gamble was done didn't do much harm. It didn't do any great harm.





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