Evening star., 1933-03-05
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, March 4 (N.AN.A).-|
Frances Perkins, new Secretary Of Labor
and the first woman cabinet member,
comes from Boston.
Although for years New Yorker,
she mas remained as much Boston as
her worn brown travelling bag and the
uucnanging style Of her tricorn hat
a type which she is reputed to have
worn ever since she was l0-years old.
She still has the farm of her for
bears in Damariscotta. Me. and makes
it q Summer home, when she is not CIV
ing up her vacation to studying unem-
ployment insurance in England or wae-
ing a presidential campaign at home.
Her childhood was in Boston. her
school years in Worchester and her col
lege at Mount Holyoke.
She was an only child until she was
nine, when a sister was born. now Mrs.
Frederick H. Harrington OF Holden,
Mass. Her father-a scholarly, earnest
man of old-fashioned standards and
deep humanness-was very close to her.
A Lover of the Classics.
Frederick w. Perkins had brought
from Maine enough enterprise to pro-
vide well for his daughters, but he was
never a man chiefly interested in get
ting on in the world. He knew and
loved Greek literature and filled his
daughters early years with classical
lore that may have much to do with
the liquid clarity of her expression.
Her calm, deep nature developed grad
ually. In college she was ripe for work
and the mark she made on her class
mates at Mount Holyoke caused them
dent It was the class of 1902. Frances
Perkins now at so comes to this apex of
her career.
She was often the despair of the COL
lege faculty and the amazement of her
friends. She neglected her courses to
make q factory survey Of the vicinity
her first investigation. F1unking
course, she refused to repeat it, having
discovered her bent elsewhere.
She called herself Fanny in college.
but her vital personality was rendered
Fan" or "Perk" by her classmates. She
was executive of half the activities on
the campus, from the Golf Club to the
Y. w. c. A. In her junior year she bal
anced the class budget by organizing a
midmorning sale of brownies and sand
wiches which, as the Junior lunch,"
has become a college tradition.
Social Righteousness"
Her fathers idea Of education had
not contemplated economics. But
Frances Perkins blossomed with the
eager, new era Of the turn Of the GEN.
tury.
social righteousness In those days." she
remarked recently.
She taught a year in Chicago and
read Jacob Riis' book, How the Other
Half Lives" and Lincoln Steffens' dis
turbing articles on "The Shame of the
Cities" She met Jane Addams and
then came period at Hull House. Her
passion deepened to make q better
world.
She did not turn to reckless muck
raking but instead back to the plod-
ding labor of the class room. She
studied economics and sociology at
Pennsylvania, at Chicago. at Columbia
University.
mate between justice and sympathy.
She taught her that to get anything
done you have to dramatic 1t. But
the capacity for dramatizing Frances
Perkins always had in her.
She was great investigator and
she has never got over it. Facts are
her gospel. She has always got the
facts first, and by the painful process
Of digging out the facts. situations
focused so clearly in her own mind that
she has never had much trouble making
a situation or need clear to others. If
there IS any moral in the rise of Frances
Perkins it is in her implicit reliance
on facts. And the facts have never
failed her.
A Saving Sense Of Humor.
She saves words by spare speech,
that comes straight to the point. She
Is always calm and has saving humor.
She knows human nature like a book.
She is noted as a great negotiator
in groups and a great persuader before
an audience. In negotiation her
strategy is completely planned.
It IS q treat to hear her make
speech, melting away the pre1ud1ces OF
her audience, feeling their attitude as
she goes along ard making her vital
points only after she has prepared the
way.
She often speaks without q shred OF
paper, or with only q flgure or two on
a sheet of paper. She has what the
psychologists call total recall" In re-
markable degree.
In preparing a speech, she employs
fancy along with the facts. She keeps
a folder of funny stories with as much
pains as she collects facts.
Her dramatic quality comes to Its
| full in a speech. Her vital personality
lows through her liquid brown eyes.