The Washington times., 1939-01-02
MURPHY, new
CABINET AIDE,
BORN IN CABIN
Quit School to Enlist
In A. {. F. When II

In A. {. F. When II
Frank Murphy, who today takes
the oath of office as a member of
the Presidents official family,
rose to a Cabinet seat from begin
nings in an humble unpainted
cabin.
The new Attorney General, who
replaced Homer S. Cummings, was
born in a cabin in the factory
district of Harbor Beach, Mich,
on April 13. 1898. When he was
II, he entered the University of
Michigan, and at the start of the
war he enlisted with the AE.F.,
later earning a captaincy.
HAD S5-A.WEEK JOB
His first legal job was a clerk
ship in a Detroit law office which
paid him SIS a week. He was
Chief Assistant to the U. S. District
Attorney for the Eastern District
Of Michigan after the war until
1928 when he was elected to the
Recorders Court of Detroit.
AS a prosecutor, he specialized
in war fraud litigation, sent three
profiteers to Jail and became
known as the prosecutor who
never lost a case" AS a judge,
Murphy reorganized adminiStra-
tive affairs of the court and added
to his widening popularity in
labor circles.
In the dark days of 1890, he rode
into the mayorship of Detroit on
a reform movement and soon
afterward was denounced as 80
cialistic" because he created city
wide relief system for thousands
of automobile workers and their
families and other citizens reeling
under depression blows.
WENT TO PHILIPPINES
He was reelected in 1882 but
served only year of his second
term, surrendering the office at
President Roosevelt's request to
become Governor General Of the
Philippines. Murphy was happy
in this post and he was generally
well liked by the islanders, but he
gave it up willingly when New
Dealers sent him a political sos
in 1886.
Some Democratic tacticians
thought he should strengthen the
party ticket to insure Michigan's
vote for President Roosevelt by
running as governor. He was
elected easily and shortly there
after was engulfed in whirlpool
Of labor trouble.
His administration was plagued
throughout by sit-down strikes and
other labor disputes in the automo-
bile industry, incited chiefly BY
the United Automobile Workers
Union, an affiliate of the Commit
tee of Industrial Organization.
FLAYED IN CONGRESS
Denounced from the floor Of
Congress for his refusal to order
State troops to evacuate Sit-doWn-
ers and accused of falsifying his
oath, Murphy pointed always to
the fact that no man lost his
life as the result Of the labor
unrest.
President Roosevelt supported
Murphy'S labor policies and a few
weeks ago publicly aSsailed a
Michigan judge and retired city
employe Of Flint, Mich, for criti-
cizing Murphy before a congress
sional committee. He said that
Murphy at all times had acted in
"the American way" to restore
peace in labor quarrels.
Murphy has genius for Or
ganization. He was reported to
have cut Detroit's expenses from
90,000,000 to $60,0OO,O00 in one
year. He whacked expenses in the
Philippines from $79,O00,000 to
$50. 100000 balanced the budget,
established an eighthour work
day, introduced votes for women,
reformed the parole system and
the judicial procedure.
HAS NEVER MARRIED
Unmarried, Murphy is a devout
Roman Catholic. He had a pri-
vate chapel in one of his two
palaces while in the Philippines