Burgess Owens: “I would like to add my sentiments to the words that have been spoken already. I associate myself with the remarks that…”

“I would like to add my sentiments to the words that have been spoken already. I associate myself with the remarks that have been made about Tom Manton. Tom Manton was a political leader in an adjacent county, the Borough of Queens. In the Borough of Brooklyn we had what we call a first-rate political machine, and in view of the fact we have been discussing power-sharing and the Voting Rights Act, I remember dramatically seeing the difference between Brooklyn and Queens. As a leader in Queens, Tom Manton believed in power-sharing. Minorities did not have to fight to get what they deserved in Queens. Harmony was not established only after a big battle was waged and the spoils were settled. In Brooklyn we had to battle for everything. We had to fight all the way. Tom Manton was a political boss. He was head of a machine. But he gave new meaning to the word machine and being a boss. A conciliator, a mediator, a guy who made things happen as he took this diverse, rapidly growing borough, rapidly growing in terms of diverse population, he wove it altogether without bitter fights and without leaving a lot of blood in the aisles. So I take my hat off to Tom Manton and the kind of example he made. I can add very little to what my colleagues have already said. Argument for Raising the Minimum Wage Madam Speaker, I wanted to speak tonight about a subject we have been talking about for quite a while here, and that is raising the minimum wage.…”